Want You Back
by manyfandomstrash
Summary: [As the elevator ascended faster and faster, it finally hit Chell. She wasn't ready to go. And as she stood alone in the vast wheat field, GLaDOS' last words echoed in her mind. "Don't come back."] Chell returns to Aperture to discover GLaDOS' past and her plans for their future. But things start to get complicated, and Chell must risk her life for the one that hates her the most.
1. Chapter 1

_**Hello everyone! I recently played and completed both Portal games (when I should have been studying for my exams) and felt I just had to write something for it. I'm not sure how long this will be, but I'm hoping a few chapters. I'll update when I can, but I am notorious for losing my motivation. I'll try not to.**_

 _ **\- Hannah**_

* * *

 **Chapter 1 - The Time Inbetween**

 _"Wait, stop the elevator!"_

Nothing. As the last of the turrets finally left her sight, Chell could feel her stomach dropping, despite the fact the elevator was ascending. She wasn't ready to leave. Not yet. Not ever. She yelled out once again, her voice strong.

 _"GLaDOS, stop the elevator!"_

She couldn't believe she was acting like this after the events that had just occurred. But the thought of resurfacing again, of facing a normal life in a normal society, terrified her. And Chell wasn't one to be easily terrified.

 _"I don't want to leave!"_

This time, her voice broke as she cried out; she felt like a child pleading to their mother to let them stay with their friend longer. But the elevator continued to move upwards. In fact, it seemed to be speeding up. She started to bang on the walls, begging that they would somehow break, but before she could do any damage, a bright light flooded the elevator. Her left arm instinctively covered her eyes, whilst her right remained clutching her sides. Feeling a breeze on her face, Chell slowly lowered her arm. She winced as the harsh light hit her eyes. It was much brighter than anything she had seen in the Enrichment Center. It was the sun. Chell took a few steps out of the elevator, still squinting to let her eyes adjust to the new light, and felt the soft dirt beneath her feet. It didn't feel right having such a soft surface underneath her. Taking in her surroundings, she inhaled deeply. Partly to take in the fresh air, but also to help her regain her normal breathing pattern which she had lost in all her fear. The sound of a loud bang caused her to turn swiftly on her feet, and instinctively take on a defensive stance. The door had closed, only a second later to swing open again. And for a split second, Chell thought that she was going back in. But then a familiar looking Cube came flying out, and once again the door slammed shut. GLaDOS' last words echoed in Chell's mind.

 _"Don't come back."_

She really did mean it.

* * *

Chell's concept of time had been greatly altered whilst in the Enrichment Center. As Chell sat outside the small metal hut, huddled up in a ball with only the companionship of her accurately named Cube, she counted seventeen moons passing. Seventeen nights with no food, no water, and nobody. One normally might have died within a week of these circumstances, but Chell was different. She thought back to the neurotoxin, the falls, the lasers - all of which, Chell had survived. It seemed that she was immune to any damage. At least physically.

On the nineteenth night, Chell once again examined the door, a daily ritual of hers. All the cracks, all the minuscule openings. She examined every wall of the hut, running her hands along it. She kicked at a dent on the left side on the until her legs could take no more. She climbed onto the roof and jumped until she couldn't breathe any longer. Finally collapsing, she rolled off the roof onto the ground. The ground no longer felt soft as it had the day she stepped out onto it, it was now the only thing separating her and the Enrichment Center, and it felt hundreds of thousands of inches thick. Which it most likely was. And as she lay there in the dirt, Chell figured that at least she wasn't completely losing her mind. Yet.

On the twenty-third night, Chell finally cracked. She banged on the door. She screamed. She threw the Companion Cube at the door, not feeling any remorse despite knowing it was sentient, as it bounced straight off and into the dirt. And finally, after hours of this mayhem, Chell fell to her knees. She looked up hopelessly at the closed door, praying to it as if it were a God.

 _"Please, I want to come back."_

* * *

On the twenty-eighth night, Chell left. She left the cube and she left the hut. She left everything she had grown to know and rely on. She left running as fast as she can, in fear of her conscience catching her. Though her lungs burned, and her legs could barely move, Chell kept on moving. She didn't know where she was heading, or if she was even heading anywhere. For all she knew, she could have been running in circles the whole time. More moons passed, and Chell lost track after counting twelve. Each night after this, her legs began to move slower and slower, as did her mind. She thought she saw a person one night, but as she got closer the figure turned out to be nothing but a shrub. On what she believed could have been the twenty-somethingth night, Chell collapsed. It seemed her mind or luck, whatever it was keeping her alive, had finally deteriorated. As she let her eyes succumb to their pleas to close, and her body slowly shut down, Chell heard a noise. Not an animal. Metal. It sounded like... a door opening. And as she began to lose consciousness, Chell heard a voice, which she concluded was her own imagination.

 _"_ _Oh. You're still alive. That's interesting. I guess I should have factored in your weight_ _."_


	2. Chapter 2

_**Motivation is still here, a solid idea has been planned. Let's hope for the best.**_

 _ **\- Hannah**_

* * *

 **Chapter 2 - The Emotional Reunion**

 _"You know, there really was a cake."_

 _GLaDOS spoke the words slowly, as if she was actually telling the truth. Chell couldn't help feeling a pang of guilt. But as she threw the second from last personality core into the incinerator, reality snapped back in and the feeling quickly left her. Turning quickly on her heels, Chell sprinted past the rocket launcher once again in an effort to attract it's attention._

 _Throughout her time down in the Enrichment Center, Chell's timing and wits had greatly improved, much to the surprise and excitement of GLaDOS, though she would never admit that. This game they had been playing, and they had both been playing it, would never get old for GLaDOS. If she were to have it her way, she would keep Chell here for the rest of her sorry life, testing and testing and testing and-_

 _Another rocket hit GLaDOS, breaking her train of thought. Pain wasn't something robots were supposed to feel, but there it was. That sharp feeling that ran right through her, and GLaDOS wasn't sure if it was her core being incinerated, or heartbreak. Her best test subject was destroying her. The first one she actually had hope for, who might actually make it. She had to stop her._

 _"The difference between you and I is, I can feel pain."_

 _The words didn't affect Chell. Not one bit._

 _"You fall, and you get shot, and you starve, yet you feel no pain. That is the one thing you have over me."_

 _Shooting one portal high above her, and another on the ground, Chell began to scale a platform, unmoved by GLaDOS' words. This was the last core. She didn't know what would happen after she destroyed them all, but right now, anything was better than the neurotoxin situation. Taking a deep breath, Chell dived off the platform into the blue portal. She sprawled her arms out ready to catch the next core in mid-air, and did so quite easily. Running towards the incinerator as fast as her legs could take her, Chell braced herself for whatever would happen once she destroyed this last core. She expected some sort of explosion, especially with all this neurotoxin gas lying around._

 _"Okay, we're even now. You can stop."_

 _Chell paused. There was something about the way that GLaDOS said this, something so sincere. She wasn't trying to toy with Chell. She wasn't trying to trick her. All of the hatred and sarcasm in her computer generated voice had gone. Chell stared into the depths of the fiery pit below her, clutching tightly onto the last remaining core. Her heart rate increased as she opened the incinerator._

 _"Please, Chell."_

 _And with that, she dropped it into the incinerator._

* * *

Never in her life did Chell expect to awake to two robots looking over her, but here she was, waking to two robots looking over her. She sat up from the floor quickly, desperately racking her brain for what had just happened.

 _Running. That's the first thing she remembered. Running through miles and miles of wheat and mud. And falling. Lying facedown in said mud. A creaking, her consciousness slipping from her and then, a voice. Not just any voice, but a familiar one. A... comforting one. Chell couldn't believe she had felt comforted by this voice. It sickened her._

Chell snapped back to present time. The two robots hadn't moved. They seemed harmless, just standing staring at her. And then she recognised them. They were there last time she had awoken, after leaving Wheatley in space. She considered asking them how she got wherever she was, but before she could, the shorter of the two robots looked up cautiously at the taller one, as if it had read her mind and was asking permission to speak. But neither said a word. Instead, the taller one came forward and offered it's hand out to Chell, who reluctantly accepted it.

She followed them through countless halls; halls that Chell had never seen. The walls were damaged and falling apart, and the floor wasn't looking much better. The taller robot was able to avoid most debris, but the shorter one didn't have as much luck and tripped over multiple times. They finally reached a familiar looking elevator. Stepping inside, Chell recounted the last time she had been in there, when GLaDOS was a potato. She wondered to herself as she ascended, how GLaDOS would react to seeing her once again.

* * *

 _"I heard you, you know."_

Chell looked up at the giant machine above her. It was almost comforting to see GLaDOS again after wondering around the outside word for however many days. Despite all the threats and insults GLaDOS had thrown at her, she knew deep down that the machine would never kill her, not her best subject.

 _"I heard you begging not to leave."_ GLaDOS continued, her voice turning bitter. _"I let my best frien-" she stopped. "My best test subject leave."_ She seemed to spit out the words now. _"And how do you repay me? You plea to come back, before you have even left."_

Chell remained silent, which in hindsight was probably not the best idea. Her silence angered GLaDOS even more.

 _"Why did you not just leave? I told you. I want you GONE!"_

GLaDOS' metal claw came flying towards Chell, and without the Portal Gun in her hand, there was nothing she could do. She felt her insides twist as she was thrown again the wall. Falling to the floor, Chell felt her wrist snap. The pain was agonising, but she wouldn't show it. GLaDOS believed that Chell could not feel pain, and she wanted it to stay that way for as long as possible.

" _I do not want you back here."_

And once again, the last thing Chell heard before losing consciousness was GLaDOS.


	3. Chapter 3

**I apologize for the short chapters, but I work better this way. I don't have an upload schedule as of yet, but I do have an overall plan for the story. Not sure if I'm going to follow it - it's quite large. If you would like this to go there, then please do tell me. I normally prefer to write short angst, but this might evolve to be more.** **I hope you're the story enjoying so far, thank you for the comments. :)**

 _ **\- Hannah**_

* * *

 **Chapter 3 - The Immutable Truth**

How many times was this now that Chell had blacked out? It couldn't be good for her. She squinted her eyes once again, awakening this time on an old, shabby bed. And in much more pain than the previous day. Or was it the same day? Chell's perception of time had been quite distorted with her stay in the Enrichment Center. Opening her eyes fully now, she noticed that only one of the robots was with her this time - the blue one. It had its hand outstretched, offering her a glass of water. She took it gratefully and downed it in seconds. It wasn't ice cold, but this was no time to be picky. Seconds later, in came the taller, orange robot with a tray in it's hands, and on it was what looked like a bowl of rice and a tin of beans. The tray was placed on the table beside her and then without a word the robots left, closing the door behind them. Chell heard the door automatically lock. And then, silence. The quiet in the room unnerved Chell, as she had been so used to hearing the mechanical voice of GLaDOS throughout her long stay here. She let her eyes close again, still feeling rather tired from her last encounter with the machine.

On the second day, Chell walked around the room, not looking for anything in particular but rather just examining it. She wasn't going to look for an escape, as she had just gotten back in. It would be stupid to anger GLaDOS anymore than she already had done. More days passed, and each morning in came the robots with water and the same food. Chell considered asking them what was going on, but she doubted they would tell her. In fact, they seemed to be mute too. Poor GLaDOS, she was the only one who ever spoke a word in here. No wonder she was always talking.

* * *

Chell began to make marks on the walls, counting the days. When she got to the nineteenth day, Chell wondered if anything was _ever_ going to happen. As much as she needed to be here, she also needed to get out of this room because the boredom was soon going to drive her insane. And she would prefer to keep her sanity. When the taller robot came in for the daily checkup a little later that day, Chell decided to make her move. Without the portal gun, things were a little bit more difficult, but not impossible. After all, Chell had survived suspended being in space, so this was a piece of cake _..._

 _"You know, there really was a cake."_

The words came back to Chell, and for a moment she reconsidered her plan to get out of this room. GLaDOS had let her back in, after all Chell had done to her. If she did anything stupid now, she would probably be kicked out for good. But Chell's morality had gone long ago, and this was no time for feeling bad. This was the time for action. In a swift movement, Chell was out of the room, leaving the stunned robot locked inside. It was almost _too_ easy.

Chell had a good memory, and she was very thankful for that. Anyone else would have easily have gotten lost here. It was over a month that Chell had last walked these halls, but somehow she made it back to the elevator, despite taking a few wrong turns. She wondered how long it would be before the robots came looking for her. Stepping inside the elevator, Chell was still uncertain that this was the right decision. She didn't want to anger the machine anymore, especially not now she had been welcomed back in. But Chell knew that GLaDOS would eventually need to test people again, after all, robots and people are very different and Chell was sure that her two robots were not as satisfying to test as she was. This was the one thing she had over GLaDOS. And she was going to use it against her if need be.

* * *

"T _ook you long enough."_ Echoed that all too familiar voice. _"Not surprising though; a brain so small would be hard to find in a head so large._ "

It was good to hear her again. And even better that she wasn't angry. In fact, if GLaDOS was angry about anything, it would be that Chell hadn't escaped _earlier_.

" _So, I bet you're wondering why I let you back in here. You know, after you **murdered** me. Twice." _ GLaDOS' mechanical head came closer to Chell, making the girl's heart rate accelerate. She wasn't scared of her, was she? _"And then you left me here alone. Twice. So why would I let you back in?_ "

Chell remained silent, she wasn't ready to give GLaDOS the satisfaction of talking just quite yet. That would be her last resort.

 _"I don't suppose you ever stopped complaining long enough to reflect on your own shortcomings, though, did you? You never considered that maybe I tested you for a reason."_ GLaDOS continued.

 _"Oh, to fulfill your own sadistic needs?"_ Chell thought to herself.

GLaDOS could read Chell's face all too easily. _"Not for my own pleasure. But to prepare you. To prepare you for what awaits you out there."_

Chell was confused. As far as she knew, there _was_ nothing out there.

" _And to think I thought you were ready. You couldn't even find your way out of the field._ "

Chell still remained silent, but she found it more difficult to contain her voice. She had so many questions. But GLaDOS was notoriously good at reading her, and it seemed once again she knew just what Chell was thinking.

" _We are the only ones left. They are all gone."_ GLaDOS turned away from the girl, as if she couldn't bare to look her in the eyes any longer. Chell was once again confused, it wasn't like GLaDOS to back down like this.

 _"After you were brought back here, the Combine invaded and everybody left. They left us here._ _We only had each other, and I grew rather fond of yo-"_

She sighed and turned back to the girl. Chell was silent, but her facial expression spoke loudly.

 _"And then, you murdered me. Well, turned me into a potato. That is just as bad. Maybe worse._ "

Chell felt her eyes burning. She wasn't about to cry, was she? No, that would be stupid. This was stupid. She shouldn't be feeling bad about this. GLaDOS was a manipulative, sadistic robot that murdered hundreds of people, including attempts to murder her. Chell hated her. She was sure of it.

" _I admired you."_ The machine continued, a sincere tone in her robotic voice. _"I admired your refusal of giving up; your yearn for survival. I tested you to prepare you, but it is obvious I did not test you hard enough._ _And that is why you are back."_

Chell felt the elevator begin to descend.

" _You will continue testing until we are ready._ _"_

 _" **We?** " _Chell thought to herself. _"What's that supposed to mean?"_

From above her, Chell heard GLaDOS mutter loud enough for the girl to hear.

 _"_ _Even if it takes forever._ _Which, with a brain your size, it very well may._ "


	4. Chapter 4

**Thank you all for the kind comments. I'm going to go with this long plan I have, so wish me luck! Chapters will be added once or twice a week, or less. I have a lot of work but I know that I hate waiting for chapter updates so I'll try my best :)  
**

 **\- Hannah**

* * *

Chapter 4 - The Testing Resumes

A few days of testing was all it took to remind Chell why she was so desperate to leave this goddamn hellhole in the first place. All the falls, all the insults, all the pain. But all of this was much more ideal than being up above. Chell often second-guessed herself, believing that she was crazy. Who in their right mind would prefer to be trapped down here, testing all day every day with a sadistic machine taunting and teasing them the whole time? She didn't know exactly _why_ , but she was sure she did want to stay.

" _How did you retain all of your weight being out there with no food? It baffles me_."

Chell cracked a smile, but quickly recalled it. There was something about GLaDOS' insults that made her smile though. She had so much sarcasm and spite in her voice and insults, but Chell had a feeling it was a defense mechanism. She thought back to her first awakening in the Enrichment Center, to the first thing that GLaDOS had said to her. The first thing that wasn't an automated message, that is. It seemed all of her messages to Chell were automated. In fact, it wasn't until Chell decided to escape the Equipment Recovery Annex, or " _fire_ " as Chell called it, that GLaDOS first spoke to Chell personally, asking her what the hell she was doing. It was also the first time Chell had heard sincerity or emotion in the robotic voice that had guided her throughout the chambers. Just for a second, it seemed that GLaDOS had been genuinely concerned. Not _for_ Chell, of course. But _by_ her. No test subject had ever escaped the Equipment Recovery Annex, and it was certainly a surprise to the poor machine... Did Chell just refer to her as poor? Maybe she really _did_ have brain damage, as GLaDOS had so often suggested.

Anyway, back to the present. Chell surveyed the test chamber she had been placed in. It looked vaguely familiar, but then again all of these chambers looked the same. Okay, shoot an orange portal, shoot a blue portal. Jump. Grab the cube. Jump. Shoot a blue portal. Jump. Place cube. Jump. Seemed pretty simple. In fact, all of the tests had been concerningly easier since the last time Chell was here, or maybe she had just gained a lot of logic in her time up above. Seems unlikely though, as half of the time she up there, she was unconscious and the other half, she was... well, losing her mind.

Chell completed the chamber in no time, waiting to hear the satisfaction of GLaDOS. But she heard nothing. Maybe the machine wasn't watching? Oh, come on. Of course she was watching. GLaDOS _lived_ for testing, there is no way she would miss watching her best test subject doing her thing. But as Chell stepped into the elevator heading for the next chamber, she heard nothing. There was no " _you did that amazingly fast, despite all that extra weight you are carrying._ " No " _I did not know that people with brain damage could complete a test so fast. I am impressed_." Chell was suspicious, which was when the idea came to her. She decided to test GLaDOS. Oh, how the tables would turn.

* * *

Test Chamber 32. Chell sat on the ground, having not moved for 16 minutes, 47 seconds and counting. There had been no word from GLaDOS. No turrets dumped into the room. No goo appearing out of nowhere. Nothing. Chell was getting genuinely concerned. She knew there was only one she could do, something that would definitely get the omnipotent machine to come out of hiding. But it would mean making her incredibly vulnerable. And giving up her only advantage over GLaDOS. She decided to wait a little longer. Chell would have to be desperate to actually go through with this plan.

Another 45 minutes passed. Chell had tried throwing cubes into the goo purposefully, only to be greeted with another one dropping out of the ceiling. She had also stood right on the edge of a wall, just above the goo. She had stared into the camera as if teasing GLaDOS that she was going to jump. But still, nothing. Chell couldn't think of anything else to do. Completing the test would just mean moving onto the next one, and then dealing with this still but in a different chamber. Sitting here doing nothing obviously wasn't phasing GLaDOS. So much for turning the tables on her. Maybe Chell really had upset her. She recalled the machines words to her as she had descended once again: " _I_ _admired you."_ There wasn't an ounce of sarcasm in that voice. It was completely genuine. For a moment, Chell had felt guilty. But then GLaDOS had gone on to tell the girl that she would be tested until _we_ were ready. Who's _we_? Chell had so many questions, but for now, she only needed the answer to one. And to get that answer, she needed to _ask_ the question. She hadn't noticed that her heart was now beating in her throat, and she was starting to sweat. Why was this such a big deal? GLaDOS had never had the satisfaction of hearing Chell's voice before, no matter how much Chell knew she wanted to. But hey, desperate times call for desperate measures. She took a deep breath.

" _GLaDOS, where are you?_ "

Her voice echoed around the room, bouncing off every wall. Chell shuddered at the sound of her own voice. It was so weak. It made her feel even more inferior than she already felt. There was no answer. Either the machine was in shock, or had chosen to ignore it. She couldn't imagine it was the latter; GLaDOS had covertly begged Chell to speak from the moment she had jumped from the fire-bound platform and run amuck in the center. So, Chell assumed GLaDOS was in shock, which wouldn't be surprising. Then had known each other for years and years, yet she had never spoken a word to the machine. She had been so proud of that achievement, because _boy_ did she want to snap at her. Many times. Chell was thick skinned, and could take the fat and brain damaged jokes. But then GLaDOS had mentioned her parents, and her abandonment, and her...

From the silence came a voice, snapping Chell back to reality. It was that all too familiar voice, and Chell had never been so happy to hear it crackling through the intercom.

" _You are ready._ "


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5 already! Crazy, hey? And it's a longer chapter, so rejoice. I've incorporated some sneaky lines from the Portal songs...SHHHH, they fit really well. Also, some of the logistics of this story might be a little off (Chell not knowing who Caroline is, etc...) but I don't know too much of the back story.**

 ** _Disclaimer or warning:_ This chapter was difficult to write. I'm going to up the rating. It should be okay to read, there's nothing graphic or triggering. **

**\- Hannah**

* * *

Chapter 5 - The Past Revealed 

Chell was, for the first time, feeling incredibly vulnerable in the presence of GLaDOS. And not just because she was seated on the floor, with the huge machine towering over her. Chell knew that GLaDOS could sense her feeling of vulnerability, and the machine could barely hold back her satisfaction.

" _I honestly did not expect your voice to sound like that. I expected it to sound more..._ "

Chell raised an eyebrow waiting to hear what word GLaDOS would use to describe her voice. She guessed it would be something along the lines of...

" _Fat_." The machine finished.

Yep. Just as Chell expected. Should she have had a mouth, GLaDOS would be finding it rather difficult to hold back a smirk right now. Chell could tell by her tone that she was feeling pretty smug. But she wouldn't let it get to her. Just because she had given up her only and last defence, it didn't mean she was going to give in.

Not another word had been spoken after GLaDOS had told Chell she was "ready" and let her out of the testing facilities. Chell still wasn't sure exactly what she meant by that. She had considered asking the machine as she returned back to her 'lair', as she liked to call it, but decided against it. Chell had spoken only once, and she didn't plan to make it a habit. Now that GLaDOS had a taste of her voice, she would be yearning for more. And that's when Chell would be at her strongest.

" _So, you are wanting to know what I meant, correct_?"

Chell nodded.

" _And you don't want to ask_?"

She shook her head.

" _Okay then. Well, when I said that you are ready, I meant that you are ready to leave_."

This time, Chell couldn't hold back. She jumped to her feet, almost losing her balance, much to the amusement of the machine.

" _No, you can't make me leave. Not again!_ "

A joyous laughter surrounded Chell, leaving her feeling rather uncomfortable. It was clear that GLaDOS was feeling quite proud of herself for making her test subject speak once again.

" _That desperate to stay with me, are you?"_ GLaDOS chortled. _"That would be funny, if it weren't so sad._ "

A large television screen came down from the ceiling, and was placed in front of Chell.

" _Do you know what this is?"_

Chell once again raised an eyebrow. How stupid did GLaDOS think she was?

" _Oh, I forgot to turn the screen on. Let me try again_."

The screen turned on, revealing what looked like security camera footage of a huge vault. And by huge, I mean bloody ginormous.

" _This is what we need to open. This is what your testing had been leading to, had you not turned me into a potato._ "

She really was never going to let that go, was she? Chell was tempted to make a witty remark, but held back.

" _Inside this vault, is the way out. For me. Hundreds of thousands of human bodies. But only one that I need._ _MY body. Caroline..."_

Chell was unsure of what GLaDOS meant by that. She knew that Cave Johnson had mentioned something about 'brain mapping', and mentioned the name Caroline. And then GLaDOS had mentioned her again just before she let Chell go, saying that being Caroline had taught her a valuable lesson; that Chell was, in fact her best friend. That comment had made Chell smile. On the inside of course. So who was Caroline?

" _I guessed your little brain had not worked it out, so I took the liberty of finding some old footage from the vaults for your viewing pleasure_. _Would you like some popcorn while you watch? Or how about some cake?"_

Chell ignored her, waiting for this 'old footage' to begin as the television went static.

" _No? Good choice, you don't need any more calories by the looks of it. Anyway, here is the video. Enjoy._ "

* * *

The footage was dated 1982. It showed a room, seemingly an office, complete with a desk, a chair, and some filing cabinets. Sitting at the desk was a man, a man that Chell recognised as being Cave Johnson. He seemed to be coughing into a tissue, and as he bought it away from his face, Chell could see blood in the now red piece of fabric. Cave pressed a button, which Chell guessed was an intercom. She was correct. Within seconds, in came another man, presumably a scientist. Cave demanded the door be closed, and then spoke, coughing through his words.

" _All right, I've been thinking. When life gives you lemons? Don't make lemonade. Make life take the lemons back! Get mad! 'I don't want your damn lemons! What am I supposed to do with these?'_ "

The scientist remained silent, it seemed he knew his place. Cave continued speaking about lemons for a while, until it finally snapped for Chell. She had heard this before...

 _"Brain Mapping. Artificial Intelligence. We should have been working on it thirty years ago. I will say this - and I'm gonna say it on tape so everybody hears it a hundred times a day."_ He pressed another button on his desk. _"If I die before you people can pour me into a computer, I want Caroline to run this place. Now she'll argue. She'll say she can't. She's modest like that. But you make her. Hell, put her in my computer. I don't care."_

The video cut out. Chell looked up at GLaDOS, who was looking elsewhere, it seemed she was trying to avoid the girls gaze. Another tape began, and Chell refocused on the television screen.

1990\. This time, it was a room filled with computers and machines. For a room so small, it seemed to have a lot in it. The camera had focused on a women, perhaps in her mid-thirties, looking quite pale. Surrounding her were maybe a dozen Aperture employees, clothed in unusual dress for scientists. They seemed to be wearing protective suits...

 _"_ Mr _Johnson, I don't want this."_

The women's voice sounded so weak, it reminded Chell of her own voice. It was filled with fear, and it was as if the women could hardly get the words out. She tried to speak clearly as if demanding something, but she failed to sound very demanding. One of the employees stepped forward, grasping onto the women's shaking arms. She began to panic.

 _"No, listen to me. Sir, I do not want this!"_

They all seemed to be ignoring her, and were now dragging her towards a very intimidating machine. She desperately fought, but her strength was useless against the large employees. The poor women was shoved into the machine, and metal clamps held her in place.

 _"Please, Sir! I do not want to do this."_

Chell could hardly watch as the machine was switched on, and the women was seemingly administered electric shocks, causing her body to convulse rapidly. Chell closed her eyes, listening to the cries of the women. She could hardly take it, but finally, it went silent. And then screaming began again. But this time, from other people. Chell opened her eyes to see gas filling the machine room. The scientists were desperately banging at the doors, trying to escape. Eventually, they went silent. As the gas cleared, Chell noticed that the women's body was still. And then she heard a voice come from somewhere in the video. A voice she instantly recognised - GLaDOS.

 _"Goodbye, Caroline."_

* * *

The television screen was lifted back into the ceiling in silence. Chell couldn't bare to look anywhere but the ground in front of her, which was slowly going blurry due to the tears forming in the girls eyes. GLaDOS was quiet and unmoving now, which was rather concerning.

" _When you murdered me,"_ the machine began gently. _"Not only was I able - well, forced really - to relive_ _you killing me, but I also recalled that memory of my "death". Over and over and over again."_

Chell felt sick to the stomach. She felt hopeless, amongst many other things. All she could manage to get out was two measly words.

 _"I'm sorry."_

* * *

 **Ouch, sad chapter. Hope you were alright reading that, I know it hurt me to write it. But then again, I do love to write angst and pain... is that concerning?**


	6. Chapter 6

**I'm really enjoying writing this, hence the amount of updates! The way this chapter ended changed drastically from my original plan. Also, I have two ways this can go and I DON'T KNOW WHICH WAY TO GO! But if I ask you lovely readers, it'll be spoilers! Maybe I can do a " _choose your path_ " story! No... maybe not. ****Oh, being a writer is difficult...** **Reviews are much appreciated though.**

 **\- Hannah**

Chapter 6 - The Search Begins

Following yesterday's events, Chell had been sent straight back into the testing chambers, and everything seemingly went back to normal for a few days. GLaDOS seemed to be acting like nothing had ever happened, which was slightly concerning. She had been making snarky remarks as usual, Chell had been testing as usual and Atlas and P-Body, whom Chell had just learnt the names of, had been bringing food and water to her room every evening as usual. Everything was very 'as-usual'. Chell wondered how long it would take for GLaDOS to allow her to go into The Vault. After all, she had previously been deemed "ready", so why was she continuing testing? Maybe it was GLaDOS' way of getting back at her. She decided that must be the reason, and continued with her testing without complaint.

A few weeks later, Chell once again found herself in GLaDOS' lair. And though she still wasn't keen on calling it that, as a lair was generally defined as a resting place of a wild animal, and GLaDOS, as wild as she was, was no animal, Chell complied with this naming. Upon entering, she noticed that the room was noticeably darker. In fact, she found herself squinting in an effort to see exactly where she was walking. She decided to stay put in the end, after tripping over a myriad of wires and debris that was yet to be cleaned and stood in the dark, waiting.

 _"I believe that you are now even more ready to open The Vault. Aren't you excited?_ "

'Excited' wasn't exactly the word Chell would have used. GLaDOS had told her that there were hundreds of thousands of bodies in there, and Chell wasn't much looking forward to discovering them.

 _"The Vault is dangerous, much more so than the testing chambers. There are 8 chambers in there, so I've read. There won't be any bodies for you to find though, they would have completely rotted by now. Isn't decomposition great?"_

Chell noticed a light to her left, and upon looking, saw a small tray open up.

" _I shan't be able to come with you, unless I put myself into that ghastly potato again, which I would rather not do. So take this."_

On the tray was an earpiece, presumably going to be used for communication with GLaDOS whilst she was in the vault. She took it, and put it into her ear. It was nice that GLaDOS cared to keep in contact with her as she faced the dangers of the vault. Maybe she _did_ care about her, just a little bit.

 _"The earpiece is purely so I can track your location and administer painfully high pitched noises if you wander off track. Just so you know."_

Then again, maybe she _didn't_ care.

* * *

Chell stood outside the huge vault door, straining her neck looking up at it. She had noticed a portal that had opened a few meters to her right, one she did not recognise as her own doing. This portal was black, and it looked rather ominous. Chell was even less excited now after seeing the size of the vault in person. She wasn't exactly sure why she had agreed to do this, but she felt that she owed GLaDOS something after all she had put her though. Unless, of course, GLaDOS was lying as she so often did. But the sincerity in her voice suggested otherwise, and Chell decided to trust her. That could have been a mistake. She heard a voice come through the earpiece and, as instructed, walked over to the portal.

" _That portal is a one-way ticket in. Once you make it through the vault, you will reach an elevator, which will take you to where I...- Caroline, is."_ GLaDOS told her. " _When you find Caroline, go to_ _the computer and click the green button. I will then be able to access the camera in that vault to monitor you. After all, I am trusting you with my body._ "

 _"Strange wording,_ " Chell thought as she grasped her portal gun tightly and took a deep breath, which was hard to do in her new suit. Surprisingly, GLaDOS had made Atlas give her a different suit, a much heavier but much more protective one. As cool as Chell felt wearing it, it was very inconvenient and limited her movements. Perhaps that was it's purpose - to get Chell killed. She took a step towards the portal. The machines voice crackled through her earpiece.

" _Good luck. And try not to die._ "

* * *

To say that The Vault's chambers were difficult would be the understatement of the century. Chell had almost died about... 22 times. And after that, she lost count. The rooms were vaguely familiar to the past test chambers, but a lot darker and a lot more dangerous. There were turrets, but not the usual ones. And certainly not the defected ones she and Wheatley had conjured up. Theses turrets could move and turn, a big step up from the stationary turrets she had encountered so far. No wonder GLaDOS had never found a test subject who would be ready for this. And when Chell got shot by a laser in the arm, she doubted she was even ready for this. Taking shelter behind a Light Bridge, Chell dropped to her knees and examined her injury. Somehow, the laser had just missed the bone and gone straight through flesh. That was the good news. The bad news was she was bleeding. A lot. So much for the protective suit. She ripped off one of her bandages around her hands and tended to the injury. The pain wasn't unbearable, but it was a nuisance.

It was only now that Chell realised she still had one question unanswered - why did GLaDOS want Caroline back, and why now? She contemplated asking, but after some thought, decided to wait until she actually found Caroline. Just then, static began in her ear and GLaDOS came through.

" _It seems you have not moved for some time. Have you died?_ "

She spoke with no concern in her voice. Typical.

" _No, I'm injured"_ Chell replied, just waiting to hear the machines snarky reply. " _I got shot_."

There was a long pause, and Chell was about to repeat herself when she finally got a reply.

" _Are you okay_?"

Now that was a surprise. Chell would never have imagined that those words would come from the machine, but there she was, hearing the impossible.

" _I'm okay, thanks_. _I'll keep moving._

The girl got to her feet, quite in shock from the recent communication. This was the last chamber though, and she needed to keep her head straight. She started moving again, and then it hit her. Not a bullet, but the reason why GLaDOS had been so concerned. Chell was her way out of here, and if she died, then so would GLaDOS. Figuratively, of course. Why did she even think that she actually cared about her? She chastised herself for being so stupid, and got back to the task on hand. Shooting a blue portal onto a wall above her, she jumped into the orange one in front of her. The exit was up just ahead along the platform, and Chell was so excited to see it that she didn't notice the turret alongside her.

 _"I see you."_

The words startled Chell, causing her to she misplace her footing and fall off the platform to the floor below. As she lay on the ground, she began to slip in and out of consciousness. Chell heard multiple " _there you are_ "'s surrounding her. Her eyes closed, waiting for the lasers to slice through her. But they never did. Slowly regaining consciousness, Chell groggily crawled to her feet, rubbing her eyes. The turrets still surrounded her, but they weren't shooting. It seemed like they couldn't even see her.

 _"Is anyone there?"_

Chell rubbed her eyes once again. The turrets weren't defective; they were in perfect working order.

 _"Searching. Where have you gone?"_

Her earpiece crackled as if the connection was being lost. It seemed GLaDOS why trying to reach her, but she could only make out a few words.

" _You have...move...I can't...longer...it hurts..._ "

Now was no time to be standing around. She grabbed the portal gun from the floor beside her and ran back through the orange portal, this time being more careful with her footing on the platform. Chell dived into the elevator and the door closed quickly, just as she heard the turrets echo from down below.

 _"There you are!"_

* * *

It seemed like the elevator was never going to stop ascending. Chell had expected to be stepping out any moment, but it just kept going up and up. She was starting to worry. What if this was an elaborate trap set by GLaDOS to finally get rid of her? The more she thought about it, the more plausible it seemed. So when the elevator stopped and the doors opened, Chell breathed a sigh of relief. She took a step out cautiously and scanned the room. It was just a small office, complete with a decaying desk and the desk. Chell noticed the computer GLaDOS had spoken of. Upon closer inspection, the computer did indeed have a green button on it, marked ' _authorize surveillance_ '. She thought for a while before eventually pressing the button. She had come this far, she might as well find out if GLaDOS was telling the truth. For a moment, nothing happened. But then, she noticed a small surveillance camera being lowered from the roof in front of her.

" _GLaDOS_?" she asked as it reached eye level.

There was no reply. It scanned the room before looking at the girl, seemingly uninterested in her presence. Chell was about to speak again when her earpiece crackled.

" _You are not as useless as I once thought you were. I could congratulate you, but I won't."_

Chell breathed a sigh of relief. As snarky as GLaDOS was, it was good to hear her properly again.

 _"Those turrets were not defective, just so you know."_

Again, it was like GLaDOS could preempt everything Chell was about to say. Maybe she had learnt how to read the girls facial expressions.

" _I managed to put up a shield around you, but it wasn't easy. It had the same consequence of helping you. But one hundred times worse._ "

Chell recalled what had happened to Wheatley when he had tried to tell them how to get through the test chamber. It hadn't been pretty. GLaDOS had taken so much shit from her, and Chell felt pretty awful about it. At least doing this for her would be some sort of compensation.

" _Caroline should be in the next room. Pick up this camera so I can see, grab the keycard and go through."_

Picking up the camera that GLaDOS occupied and the keycard off the desk, Chell began to walk towards the metal door.

 _"They did not move Caroline."_ GLaDOS continued. _"They did not get a chance before they perished. So she should still be in there."_

She paused. If Caroline hadn't been moved or touched for God knows how many years, she wasn't going to be in a... _presentable_ state, let's say. Surely GLaDOS would have worked that out? Nevertheless, she swiped the keycard. Taking a step back, Chell prepared herself for whatever might face her in the room. The first thing she noticed was the stench. She didn't recognise it, but when surveying the room, she found the culprits. Decaying bodies rested up against the walls; walls marked with scratch marks caused by failed attempts to escape. Chell held her breath, almost gagging at the smell. If she didn't have the bulky camera in her hands, she would have held her nose. But she did, and so she couldn't.

" _Excuse the mess. And the smell. I didn't get a chance to clean this area._ "

It was then that Chell saw what they had come for - Caroline. Or at least, what was left of her. She instinctively turned the camera away from the body, much to GLaDOS' dissatisfaction.

" _Was that Caroline? Show me_."

Chell reluctantly walked over to Caroline and faced the camera towards her. The corpse was almost devoid of skin now, and her eye sockets had sunken in long ago. Chell's eyes trailed down the women's arms to her cold fingers, forever trapped in a defensive fist. Chell felt tears forming in her eyes, and it wasn't due to the rancid stench in the room. The memories of the video tape she had watched were resurfacing, and she felt sick to her stomach.

" _Put the camera down and go._ " GLaDOS mumbled.

Chell hadn't heard such a sorrowful expression in the machines voice before; she didn't even realise it was possible. " _I'm sorry..."_ she began.

 _"JUST GO_."


	7. Chapter 7

**Okay, I've made up my mind about which way to go with this story, so that's good news. I tried to keep the _facts/scenes set in the past_ canon, but this was difficult as nothing much has really been confirmed. Also, another long chapter, yay! Thank you for the kind comments. Enjoy. :) **

**\- Hannah**

* * *

Chapter 7 - The New Body

 _Chell had waited in the office for what must have been a few hours before GLaDOS finally came through in her ear, telling her quite simply to step back into the elevator which would then take her out of The Vault. The girl had complied without a word, rather concerned about the lack of emotion in GLaDOS' voice. The elevator whirled back into life as she stepped into it. After a pause, it began to move upwards. Chell wasn't sure what was going to happen next, but she decided to just go with it._

* * *

Sitting back in her room that same evening, Chell wondered what would happen from here. She had no need to test anymore, so that was out of the question. But then again, GLaDOS might take out her anger and frustration on her by forcing her to test for the rest of her sad, sorry life. She hoped not. It had only been earlier this morning that the machine had yelled at her to leave her with Caroline, and Chell wasn't sure how long it would take before GLaDOS would be ready to speak again. As she sat and pondered her future, she heard her door unlocking and in walked Atlas with her routine evening meal. Except it wasn't her usual meal of rice and beans. It was a single glass of water and a small chunk of bread. She looked questionably at the robot, who seemed to be avoiding her gaze. It placed the tray on the bed beside her and left without a word. Not that it could speak a word anyway. Chell was ravenous and took no time at all to down the bread in a few single bites. Feeling slightly frustrated at how quickly the food had gone, Chell decided to check if there were any cans around her room. After all, this room wasn't exactly a bedroom. It was more of a storage room with a hospital like bed and a few metal tables. It was then that she noticed that the robot hadn't closed the door behind it. It seemed quite odd that Atlas would forget, as Atlas was the more careful one of the two robots. Cautiously, Chell walked over to the open door and peeked her head out. The halls were dimly lit, and there was nobody in sight. This might be her only chance to explore the facility, and so she walked out of her room and down the hall, leaving the door slightly ajar behind her as to not lock herself out.

It was rather dim, but Chell's eyes eventually accustomed to the darkness and she found herself moving quite quickly through the halls. She wasn't exactly sure what she was looking for, but she was excited to be freely moving around the facility. Passing what seemed to be an old kitchen like area, she decided to check inside for food. GLaDOS had to have kept the food around here somewhere, and she doubted it would be in her lair. After a few minutes of searching, Chell found only a rat and some utensils. She left the kitchen feeling rather frustrated and even more hungry than before. She thought back to her earlier escape with potato-fied GLaDOS, remembering the stack of corrupted personality cores they had stumbled across. Thinking that she might find some entertainment from them, Chell took a turn and tried to recollect the way there, but not before stopping past the testing chambers to grab her portal gun. For some strange reason, GLaDOS had made her leave it outside the chambers for her to access anytime should she be out of her room. Chell supposed that GLaDOS hadn't expected her to be able to get out of her room to acquire it. Even with the portal gun, it was much easier last time when she had potato-fied GLaDOS guiding her. Poor thing - it must've been quite degrading having been put into a potato by a ' _moron_ '. Chell wondered how Wheatley was doing; she did feel bad for him. To have suddenly acquired all that power must have been very overwhelming, and he didn't mean to do bad, not really. He was a good core, Chell knew it. She wondered if GLaDOS would ever let him come back; he was probably rather lonely in space. Although he wasn't alone - he had the space core with him. Poor Wheatley.

Eventually, Chell found herself back near the corrupted cores. As soon as they saw her, they all began to speak at once.

 _"Do you have a gun? 'Cause I should really have a gun. What is that thing you're holding?"_

 _"In 1948, at the request of a dying boy, baseball legend Babe Ruth ate seventy-five hot dogs, then died of hot dog poisoning."_

 _"Thank you for assuming the party escort submission position."_

Chell giggled at their words; they were such funny little things. She sat with them for a while, just listening to them speak to her and one another. When she got bored, she decided to carry on exploring. As she continued out of the hall and onto a bridge, she noticed a small metal door a few platforms below her. Something about that door seemed off, but Chell noticed that there were no surfaces around the door that would allow portals to open there. The closest portal-friendly surface she could see was about 10 meters away from the door. And even from that platform, there was no way of accessing the door. Once again frustrated, Chell continued to walk across the platform until she came across a miracle - a dripping tube of conversion gel. It was almost too good to be true, but Chell wasn't going to complain. She shot an orange portal under the dripping gel and a blue portal on the platform near the door and, after the wall beside the door was covered in the gel, once again shot an orange portal next to the strange door and a blue one on a nearby wall.

Much to her surprise, the door was unlocked. Chell supposed there was no reason to lock it, unless it led to a button that could destroy the whole facility and GLaDOS herself, but she guessed this was unlikely. Stepping into the darkness, Chell desperately prayed that her eyes would soon adjust. That, or there was a light switch in here somewhere. To her disappointment, she couldn't find any switches anywhere. The glowing electricity on her portal gun would have to do for now. She began to walk through the darkness, tripping over more times than she would like to admit. Suddenly, Chell noticed a very dim light in the distance. She began to walk towards it and banged into a tall metal shelf, swearing profusely. As she regained her composure, she noticed that it wasn't a light - it was a candle. A candle on a cake. Chell laughed out loud to herself, _there really was a bloody cake all along_. More carefully this time, she walked towards the cake, which was sitting on a small wooden table. Though the light was dim, Chell was now able to see a few things around her. She noticed that she was surrounded by shelves on which were hundreds of cores. They were silent and emitted no light, meaning they were either defective or didn't want Chell to notice them. She hoped it wasn't the latter. Chell sat by the cake, watching the flame flutter in the darkness. It was the most soothing thing she had witnessed for God knows how long. She could have fallen asleep there, but that would have caused problems when GLaDOS wanted to find her. Standing up, Chell got ready to leave and almost had a heart attack when she saw two blue eyes staring at her from across the room.

Her first instinct was to run, but something held her in place. The eyes were unmoving, as if they weren't conscious. Chell stood watching them for some time, before grabbing the candle from the cake and bravely walking closer to the eyes. As she approached, she began to make out a body that the eyes were attached to. If it weren't for the glowing blue eyes, Chell would have thought this body was human. The body was sitting in the corner, resting up against the wall in a heap. It looked very lifelike, except for the transparency of it's abdominal area and right upper arm. The left arm was nonexistent. She could see wires in these transparent areas, but they didn't seem to be attached to one another. In fact, it looked as if the robot had been torn apart. Chell wondered what on earth it could be. It was too high tech to be a robot like Atlas or P-body, but too robotic to be human. She then noticed a wire that was plugged into it, and following the wires path, found a laptop sitting behind the body. Very carefully, Chell moved the body aside and slowly grabbed the laptop. As she did so, it whirred to life. A desktop screen came up, with only a video file on it. It was titled " _GLaDOS 2.0._ " Chell double clicked it, and a video began to play.

* * *

 _In the corner of the footage was a date - 12/25/91. Christmas day. It was the same room as before, a year after Caroline had been forced into the machine. She still lay in her deathbed as it were, never to move again._

 _GLaDOS was towering over Caroline, both unmoving. She seemed to be thinking, or perhaps mourning her past self._

 _"I may never get **my** body back, but I can get **a** body back. You just wait and see, Caroline. Oh, and Merry Christmas."_

 _The machine turned away from her human body and moved towards a computer, plugging a wire attached to her core in._ _Next to it was a chamber, large enough to fit a body inside. It was metal and had dozens of wires going into and coming out of it._ _The computer started up and began to make very unsettling noises._

 _"I know you do not like this computer, but deal with it. This is for the greater good."_

 _Muttering to herself, GLaDOS continued to work with the computer, seemingly through cyberspace, as she couldn't physically type on it. All of a sudden, the computer let out a 'ding' which sounded much like a microwave timer ending. GLaDOS detached herself from the computer and moved away, just as the chamber began to smoke. Unphased by the alarms and smoke, GLaDOS watched contently. The chamber started shaking and smoking more violently now, and just as it seemed like it was going to explode, there was silence. Slowly, the doors to the chamber began to open and out walked a humanoid robot, with glowing blue eyes and transparent abdomen and arms._

* * *

Chell recognised it to be the robot she was sitting right next to, except it had both arms whereas this one only had one. The robot hadn't moved, but Chell still felt uncomfortable in its presence. She moved a little further away from it and continued to watch the video.

* * *

 _The robot stood in the room, staring into space. GLaDOS came closer to it, admiring her creation._

 _"You're a bit fat, aren't you?"_

 _The robot remained silent._

 _"Well, you will have to do. I'm now going to transfer myself into you. I need you to say yes to the core transfer, okay?"_

 _Still, the robot did not move or speak. GLaDOS reached a claw out and prodded it gently on the chest. It didn't react._

 _"Do you hear me?"_

 _Nothing. Rather frustrated now, GLaDOS pushed the machine a little too hard, and it fell backwards against the chamber it had recently emerged from. It didn't react. GLaDOS moved towards the computer and once again connected herself to it. An angry sounding 'beep' came from the computer before it shut itself off. GLaDOS disconnected herself and moved back to the robot. She stared at it for a moment, before violently throwing it against a wall. It fell down to the floor in a heap, losing an arm along the way._

 _"Insolent piece of machinery." She started angrily._ _"_ _I''m the most intelligent thing to ever be created and I can't even create a robot capable of holding my consciousness."_

 _I_ _t actually sounded as if she was on the verge of crying_ _._ _After a moment, the room turned dark and there was silence_ _._

* * *

The video ended. Chell put the laptop down, trying to take in everything she had just seen. This robot sitting in front of her was GLaDOS' attempt failed at a real body for herself. She inspected it closely, wondering how GLaDOS could not have been able to create such a thing - after all, she really was incredibly intelligent. Chell thought back to her childhood, when she would ask her father to tell her all about the things he did at work. Her father worked for Aperture Science, and Chell decided from the day she was old enough to think for herself that she wanted to take after him and become a scientist or robot engineer.

When she was 10 years old, Chell was invited to come into the facility for ' _Bring Your Daughter to Work Day_ ' - it was the best day of her life. Her father had told her all about the robots he was creating. He had told her about a man named Cave, and how they had planned to pour his consciousness into a computer, but he died before they could figure out how to do it. Following Cave's death, they had been working on getting a women named Caroline ready to be transferred, but couldn't quite get the final bits right. It was Chell's father who, years later, finally figured out just _how_ to do it. It required knowledge of not just computer science, but also human biology. Her father had explained it to her in great detail, and young Chell had taken it all in incredibly quickly.

And then it hit her - the reason why GLaDOS couldn't get this robot to work was the same reason that they couldn't get Cave into the computer in the first place. It needed a core, but not just any core...

Chell jumped to her feet and, slumping the robot over her shoulders, started back towards her room. She had a dangerous task ahead of her, which would involve re-entering The Vault - _with this robot -_ to get back to Caroline. A single cell, that's all that would be needed to get this robot to accept GLaDOS' consciousness. Chell couldn't believe that GLaDOS hadn't figured this out - it was the most basic lesson in robotics. But her mind was rushing, and she had no time to think about that. She was going to get GLaDOS what she wanted most - a body.

* * *

 **So I decided to go this way instead of my other plan, _which would have been weird seeing as human Caroline is old enough to be Chell's mother_... (ignore that headcanon whilst readin this fic...) Hope you enjoyed this chapter!**


	8. Chapter 8

**This chapter is a little shorter because I've suddenly had a lot of work pile up and just found some time now to write! Chapters might be released a little farther apart from now on.**

 **\- Hannah**

* * *

Chapter 8 - The Machine Awakens

Chell returned to her room as quickly as she could carrying a heavy robot over her shoulders. If she had have ran into Atlas or P-Body, she probably would be in big trouble. But luckily she hadn't, and was soon safe and sound back in her room. She slumped the robot onto the bed, trying to get her breath back. The robot was fairly heavy, seeing as it was built out of metal, but it was not much larger than Chell herself. No wonder GLaDOS had called it fat...

Chell began to search it for the core slot - the place where she would need to insert one of Carolines cells. It sounded quite gruesome and strange, but Chell was sure that that was how her father had figured it out - how to put a conscious into a machine. _Wait_. Chell thought back to the video if GLaDOS' creation - could her father have been one of those scientists that forced poor Caroline into it? She didn't recall seeing him in the video, but that didn't mean he didn't have a part in all of it. After all, he was the one who figured out just _how_ to do it. Did he know that Caroline didn't want it? Her father was no murderer... was he?

It was all too much for Chell, and she collapsed onto the bed, pushing the robot off and onto the floor. Her heart was pounding and her head was spinning. She refused to believe it - her father was a good man. He would not have helped had he known that Caroline would be forced _against her will_ into a machine. As much as he loved his job, her father would never give up his morals for it.

For a few hours, Chell lay on the bed thinking back to her childhood. She remembered the day she built her first robot. It was a simple robot, made of metal scraps and wires her father had brought back for her from work. The robot could say simple phrases such as "hello", "how are you" or "goodbye" but it could not properly interact with Chell, much to her disappointment. That was, until she showed her father who offered to tweak it in order to give it an artificial 'conscious'. Chell was delighted when it began to have conversations with her. They spoke about everything and anything, until it asked about Chell's mother. The robot was promptly destroyed.

Chell's mother was very rarely mentioned during her childhood. In fact, the only thing Chell knew about her was that she had abandoned the family when Chell was three years old. Her father had brought her up alone, until he passed away in a workplace accident. The rest of Chell's childhood memories were fuzzy.

* * *

If Chell thought The Vault was difficult to get through the first time, she was in for quite a shock now. The robot was a huge hindrance, and almost got the girl killed multiple times. But it also made for a great shield and saved her life a few times too. She decided to forgive it for hindering her. With only two laser wounds and a slight concussion, Chell limped into the elevator. The elevator started its long ascension as Chell began to drift into unconsciousness. Hearing the 'ding' of the elevator and desperately holding onto reality, Chell stumbled out, grabbed the keycard and went through the next room. She forgot how rancid it smelt in there, and held back vomit as she entered, dragging the robot behind her. She would need to be quick as to avoid vomiting or losing consciousness.

Reaching Caroline's body, she removed the robots core plate: a simple, thin sheet of glass and laid it on the floor beside the corpse. Without having time to decide which cell to take, she ripped out a strand of hair from Caroline's rotting scalp, deciding it was the most dignified. And least disgusting. She placed it onto the plate and returned it back into the robots body. It's eyes didn't move; they remained as lifeless as they always had been. Exasperated, Chell removed the core plate, turned it around and slotted it back in; maybe she didn't put it back in properly before. But still, nothing. She pressed the only button she could see on the robot. Nothing happened.

The murky air began to fill the girls lungs; she needed to leave. Searching the robots eyes one more time for any sign of life, she climbed to her feet, almost losing her balance more than once. Chell had lost all hope she had in herself. With not a moment more of hesitation, she grabbed the robots arms and headed back to the elevator, her head hung low in shame. She had not only let herself and GLaDOS down, but also her father. She was a disappointment.

* * *

" _I can't believe it, you are actually heavier than a robot. Dragging you both back in here was not very enjoyable._ "

Chell opened her eyes slowly, her head spinning. She looked around. Her vision was blurry, but she could tell where she was - GLaDOS' lair. And that voice was unmistakable.

" _You are so unpredictable, you never fail to surprise me. But this? This is really something else. I commend you though, for having the bravery to do such a thing. Angering me is not a smart idea, you should know that._ "

The girl rubbed her eyes, feeling nauseous. To her right, the robot was sitting up against the wall, its eyes still lifeless.

" _Exploring **my** facility, messing with **my** body - both of them. You really know how to anger me."_

Chell glanced to her right where the robot was sitting up against the wall, its glowing eyes still lifeless.

" _I don't need you anymore. Goodbye, Chell."_

It was the first time GLaDOS had said the girls name, and she didn't know how to feel. Her heart began to pound faster and faster. GLaDOS was either going to kill her, or kick her out again. And she couldn't decide which was worse. The ding of the elevator came from behind Chell, and she felt herself being dragged towards it. But she didn't bother to struggle. Seconds before she was thrown into the elevator, she heard a voice. One she did not recognize.

" _Core Transfer of: Genetic Lifeform and Disk Operating System: Complete._ "

There was a blinding flash, and then darkness. Squinting into the blackness surrounding her, Chell saw the blue eyes of the robot. They began to move closer to her, until they were right in front of her. She felt a cold, metallic hand touch her shoulder. The robot towered over her and then, it spoke.

" _I'm sorry to tell you this, but you look much fatter up close._ "

* * *

 **Erhrhhhhhhh I don't know if I liked this chapter. And I didn't know what to put as the last line of dialogue... Why am I doubting myself D:**


	9. Chapter 9

**Okay, now it gets interesting! Hehehehee :)**

 **\- Hannah**

* * *

Chapter 9 - The Escape Plan

 _There was a blinding flash, and then darkness. Squinting into the blackness surrounding her, Chell saw the blue eyes of the robot. They began to move closer to_ her, _until they were right in front of her. She felt a cold, metallic hand touch her shoulder. The robot towered over her and then, it spoke._

 _"I'm sorry to tell you this, but you look much fatter up close."_

 _The second Chell heard that statement come from the robot, she regained all hope in herself. It had worked._

* * *

Chell crawled out of the elevator back into the darkness of GLaDOS' lair. The lights flickered back on, and Chell looked up to see the robot towering over her. Behind it, GLaDOS' computer 'body' was unmoving and silent. The robot reached out a hand, and Chell couldn't believe that it was going to help her up. It did in fact help her up, just not in the way Chell had wanted. Grabbing her neck, it hoisted her above it's head, leaving Chell's feet dangling in the air. She grabbed the robot's arm, trying to loosen it's grip but it held tightly. Chell struggled to breathe as she felt the cold hand squeeze her neck harder. She closed her eyes and took one more breath, expecting it to be her last.

But then, the robot slowly lowered her to her feet and let go of her neck. Gasping for air, she instinctively took a step backwards, and then another one. The robot followed her, taking one step forward for every one step she took back. Eventually, Chell's back hit the wall behind her; she was trapped now. The robot was standing right in front of her, it's face just inches from hers. She looked into it's eyes, which had now changed to the same golden colour that GLaDOS had in her machine form.

" _Prepare to leave._ "

This time, Chell didn't dare do anything wrong. GLaDOS was telling her to leave, and so she would. This robot body was strong, much stronger than Chell. Before Chell would move, GLaDOS reached out and grabbed the jumpsuit around the girls waist, leading her towards the elevator. She was slung into it, and the doors closed quickly behind her. She waited for it to ascend, but it didn't. In fact, it did quite the opposite - it descended.

So, GLaDOS was going to kill her then. That must be it. If she wasn't letting her leave this place, she must be planning to kill her. Any normal person would probably be crying or trying to escape right now, but Chell had accepted it - it was her time to leave. Having been a prisoner here for so long, and then begging to come back once set free, she needed to finally go for good. The elevator stopped, and Chell took a deep breath. She wondered how she was going to be killed. Turrets? Neurotoxin gas? Or maybe GLaDOS was going to do it with her bare hands, now that she actually had them. The door opened slowly.

It was her bedroom. Chell took a cautious step out of the elevator, which promptly closed behind her and left the way it had come in - through the ceiling. GLaDOS must be playing some sort of sick joke on her. Any minute now, the walls would fall down and she would be surrounded by turrets. Or neurotoxin would come flooding in through the vents. Or...

She noticed the portal gun on her bed. GLaDOS must have had it returned there after finding her and the robot. Suddenly, it hit Chell. GLaDOS wasn't going to kill her with turrets, or with neurotoxin gas. She was going to kill her the only way she would accept - through testing! It was so obvious, Chell couldn't believe she hadn't had realised earlier. She grabbed the gun and ran out of her room towards the testing chambers, expecting GLaDOS to be waiting there for her. When she arrived however, the robot was nowhere to be seen. And even more surprisingly, the testing chamber was locked up... shut down even. The doors were bolted shut, and it was dark inside. Chell was confused, where was GLaDOS? Surely this would be the way she was going to get rid of her, why else would the portal gun be left on her bed? She carried on walking, still confused. Her next stop was GLaDOS' lair, surely the robot would be there. Perhaps this was one last elaborate joke, and Chell was running straight into her own death. But it was worth a shot.

* * *

" _Are you prepared to leave now_?"

Chell raised an eyebrow, holding the gun towards the robot. As if the portal gun could actually do anything to help... Perhaps she could shoot a portal at the robots mouth as to stop it from constantly talking.

" _I'll take that as a yes. Sadly, I am not yet ready. You will have to wait a little longer."_

GLaDOS was prolonging her death; teasing her. Chell wasn't having any of it.

" _Just kill me now or I'll do it myself._ "

She knew that would get GLaDOS to do react, there was no way she would allow the girl to take her own life, that was GLaDOS' job.

" _I think you misunderstood me, Chell._ "

Hearing her name come from the robots mouth made Chell shiver. It was so abnormal, so... _human_.

" _You see, when I said prepare to leave, I meant prepare to leave here. This facility. Despite the fact that you murdered me twice, I have decided to be the bigger person."_ GLaDOS continued, stepping closer to the girl. _"I am not going to kill you for the sole reason that I need you. And, the fact that I am a bigger person. Both figuratively and literally._ "

" _But if you need me, why are you making me leave?"_ Chell asked, taking a step back. " _Are you going to do experiments on me up there? Throw me into new tests; tests out there in the real world?_ "

GLaDOS' robotic mouth upturned into a smirk. " _No. Well, yes. But no. We are both going to be leaving. There is no "real world" anymore. It was destroyed long ago, as you found out when I released you. There is nothing up there, not for you anyway. You're only coming with me to protect me."_

The robot turned, walking back over to her old body. Chell followed slowly, gun still at ready.

"T _here is something up there that I need, something that I could only get myself. Which is the reason I made this body. I hate to admit it, but you are good at surviving. Which is why you are coming with me._ "

" _What is it up there that you need then?_ " questioned Chell. And what made the robot think that she was just going to comply to this?

GLaDOS turned to face the girl, a venomous look on her robotic face.

" _I need to find Cave Johnson._ "


	10. Chapter 10

**Super short chapter, I know... I'm sorry D: Also it's been ages since update, again soz. Time has been hard to find lately - I'm filming a movie for University which is taking up lots of time. But don't worry, I shall keep writing whenever I find time :D Still have more chapters to go :)**

 **\- Hannah**

* * *

Chapter 10 - The Step Outside

It was silent in the elevator.

Chell didn't know exactly what to say. She had so many questions.

 _How was Cave still alive? Why did GLaDOS need to find him? Why was she bringing her along?_

There was no way GLaDOS couldn't protect herself - she was a super computer in an indestructible robotic body, like she needed protection from a human! But despite all these questions buzzing around in her head, Chell remained silent. Looking over at the robot beside her, she wondered if GLaDOS actually had a plan. It was all well and good to say she was going to find Cave, but did she even know where he was? After much thinking, Chell concluded that GLaDOS must have some sort of tracking device built into her system. The girl turned forward once again, watching the buttons of the elevator flash. The last time she was here, she was alone and terrified. She remembered the feeling knowing that she was being sent to the outside world, all alone. Even thinking about it now made her feel sick. But at least now she wasn't alone.

" _I should warn you,_ " the robot started, breaking Chell out of her thoughts. " _It's not going to be easy for me to leave this place._ "

" _Well it's pretty much your house, so I can't imagine it would be easy to leave,_ " Chell observed, turning to face the robot. She couldn't understand why she wouldn't want to leave though. It may be GLaDOS' house, but it certainly wasn't a home. Homes are warm and comfortable, unlike this cold, metal facility. Although, to a robot, metal probably is quite comforting and homely.

" _You misunderstood."_ GLaDOS continued _. "I'm hardwired into the facility, so leaving here is going to hurt. A lot. Maybe more than when you murdered me. I suggest that you take cover when we arrive at the surface._ "

Chell nodded, noticing that GLaDOS had remained still whilst speaking, as if she didn't know exactly how to move. After all, it had been decades since she was last in control of a body. Perhaps she had forgotten how to move appropriately.

" _Take cover?_ " she suddenly questioned, unsure of what GLaDOS had quite meant.

" _You heard correct._ "

Chell had observed that the robot hadn't blinked at all either. Although, there was no reason too. She had no eyes to protect, just optics.

All of a sudden, the elevator grinded to a halt. They had arrived at the surface. There was a pause before the door violently swung open. The light once again blinded Chell, and the warmth of the outside air wrapped around her like a scarf. GLaDOS' warning to take cover suddenly came back to her memory, and taking one last look at the robot who had remained still, Chell bolted outside. There was nothing except corn around her, no trees or buildings to take shelter in. Chell didn't know exactly what was going to happen, but seeing as GLaDOS has warned her to take cover, she assumed it would be something big. She ran around the back of the metal shed as fast as her shaking legs would take her.

And there she saw it - her companion cube! She raced for it, wrapping it in a tight embrace. Sure, it was just a cube, but it had gotten her through so much and she had never been happier to see it. She ran with it as far away from the shed as she could before the explosion shattered through her. There was a blinding flash, and a huge ball of fire and electricity roared upward. Chell was thrown backwards into the corn, the cube ripped from her hands.

* * *

A ringing in her ears finally awoke her. At last opening her eyes again, Chell could only see flames. The shed was nowhere to be seen and neither was GLaDOS. She pulled herself back to her feet, leaning on the cube beside her for balance. The entire cornfield, or as far as Chell could see through the flames, was engulfed in a sea of red and orange. She was surrounded by flames and tongues of smoke reaching desperately into the sky, trying to escape the blazing inferno below. The smoke started to choke the girl as she desperately searched for a gap in the fire to escape. But there was none. If only the companion cube had a built in fire extinguisher...

She collapsed back to her knees, coughing profusely. The air was black now, she couldn't even see the fire surrounding her, only the smoke. Now it might have just been her hallucinating as she lost consciousness, but Chell was sure she could see a figure running towards her through the smoke. As it got closer, it got bigger and bigger until it was right in front of her. But it didn't stop, instead it grabbed the weak girl, slung her over it's shoulders and continued running. Chell felt the flames burn her as she was hauled through their tongues. She closed her eyes, waiting for it to end. Ash floated around Chell, showing onto her face like red hot snowflakes. Everything burned. And then, darkness.

* * *

 _ **I know it's short, and by far not my best writing. I'm having trouble finding motivation and time lately. Hoping to find both of these things soon. I'll try and update again within a fortnight.**_


	11. Chapter 11

**... I know, it's been ages I'm sorry! University has been crazy busy lately, and so I'm writing this at like midnight... I promise normal posting and chapter lengths will resume within a month or two! Thank you to the lovely comments, it means a lot to me 3**

 **\- Hannah**

* * *

Chapter 11 - The First Night

Chell woke with a start, sitting up so fast she almost fell right back down again. Her eyes darted around her, but she couldn't make out much; it was dark. What she could make out, however, was that unmistakable glow of a familiar figure: GLaDOS. She was walking towards Chell carrying what looked like a pile of logs.

"Y _ou had me worried there,_ " the machine started, placing the logs down onto the floor. " _I thought I would have to drag your dead body around with me, and that wouldn't be fun for either of us_."

Chell remembered what had previously happened - the explosion and the fire... She wanted to ask GLaDOS if she was okay, but Chell had very little energy at the moment and so she remained silent. GLaDOS produced a flame from her fingertips and lit the fire, much to Chell's amazement. It also gave her yet another incentive not to piss the robot off, seeing as she also harnessed the power of fire. And fire hurt, as Chell had recently learnt.

" _Somehow, I did not receive much damage from that explosion. I must have built this body stronger than I thought. You, however, weren't so lucky_."

Chell's heart began to race. What was wrong with her now? She inspected her arms for wounds but couldn't find any. She wiggled her toes; they were all intact. GLaDOS noticed the girl's frantic searches and grabbed her arm.

" _Your clothes, I meant._ "

Chell looked down at herself and noticed that her shirt had been quite damaged by the fire. It had holes covering it, and the fabric was fraying. So much for expensive aperture material... She slowly climbed to her feet. She needed to take it off and pull up the jumpsuit around her. The fabric of the shirt was sticking to her burns. She stared at GLaDOS, waiting for her to look elsewhere, but she didn't.

" _Erm...I'm going to get rid of the shirt._ "

" _I gave you that shirt, and now you want to get rid of it_. _You will break my heart. Again._ " She replied, sarcasm once again detectable.

" _Can you... turn away?"_

GLaDOS had an amused look on her face. " _You do realise that I am a robot_."

Chell just stood awkwardly until GLaDOS finally gave in and turned her back to the girl. She didn't know why she felt so awkward in GLaDOS' presence. She _was_ a just a robot. Nevertheless, Chell quickly removed the shirt and undid the tied up jumpsuit from around her waist, sliding her arms through it and zipping the front up. Despite the now burning fire, she was very cold. She dropped back to the ground, shivering.

" _I don't suppose you feel the cold, do you?_ " Chell asked the robot as she turned back to face her, already knowing that she would be teased for asking such a stupid question. GLaDOS did not disappoint.

" _No, surprisingly, robots do not feel cold or hot. Though I do emit a lot of heat, there is so much going on inside this body, it is to be expected._ "

Chell's ears perked up. She was freezing, and the thought of a heat emitting robot sounded ideal. But the absurdity of the question she felt the desire to ask prevented her doing so. She didn't say anything but continued to shiver. GLaDOS seemed to be ignoring her, much to the girls frustration. Why did she expect anything else of her?

" _So, Cave? You know for sure that he's alive_?"

GLaDOS gave Chell a sarcastic look. Who knew a robot could make such a face?

" _No, I'm only guessing._ " The sarcasm in that sentence was incredible, Chell didn't even know someone could sound so sarcastic. " _Of COURSE I know that he is alive. I would not risk our... **MY** life if I wasn't 100% certain._ "

Chell watched GLaDOS pull her legs to her chest; she looked so human like in that position. It was quite amazing really. Chell found a small stick beside her and began to dig it into the dirt.

" _I watched him escape."_ GLaDOS continued. _"After I woke up in the machine, I saw him."_

 _"But he had been dead for years..."_

 _"No, he faked his death. He knew that putting a human into a machine would be disastrous, but he didn't want to back out. He had too much pride. So he faked his death, but not before ordering that I be put into the machine. I was stupid to comply."_

Chell began to twist the stick into the ground, digging up dirt.

 _"When I woke up, I couldn't get to him. He had locked himself out of the area, as if he knew what was going to happen. But he wanted me to see that he was alive. He wanted me to suffer. And now, it's time for revenge. As you know, I love revenge."_

Chell chucked. GLaDOS sure did love revenge. But she also - deep, _deep_ down - had some compassion. She just wouldn't admit it. It was getting _really_ cold now, and Chell was struggling to stop her teeth chattering. The fire was dying out. She looked over at GLaDOS and could almost _see_ the heat she was emitting. It seemed that GLaDOS already knew what Chell was thinking.

" _No way, you are not coming anywhere near me_."

Chell gave her best puppy dog face; eyebrows upturned and lips pouting.

" _You think that's going to change my mind_?"

She sighed. " _Well, it was worth a try. But if I freeze to death overnight, you'll only have yourself to blame._ "

GLaDOS dismissed this comment, turning away from the girl. The fire was dying down; it was about to burn out.

" _I'm going to sleep, I need to recharge myself._ "

" _You sleep_?"

" _No, I **recharge** myself. I said sleep only to make you want to go to sleep._ " The machine insisted. " _So go to sleep._ "

Chell didn't reply. She lay down as close to the now burnt out fire as she could and huddled up into a ball, shivering.

At some point during the night, Chell heard movement and soon felt a warmth beside her. She smiled gently and soon fell asleep.

* * *

 **Aww cute chapter, I'm relatively happy with it. It's short, yes but I think it's okay. Stay tuned, there WILL be more!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Another update, only a day later? I know, it's crazy... I found some time today and so decided to write another chapter. :) It's only a short one though, like a chapter between chapters. I'm sort of just writing this as I go; I have an overall end plan, but no _journey-to-get-there_ plan...**

 **\- Hannah**

* * *

Chapter 12 - The Wake-up Call

It was an uncharacteristically warm morning when Chell awoke the next day. By the position of the sun, she guessed it was around seven o'clock. Clouds were looming above, suggesting that rain may be on its way. Chell didn't get much sleep last night, at least not until she had felt GLaDOS sit beside her. She knew not to bring it up though; the machine would never admit that she cared enough for the girl to keep her warm.

Looking around, she noticed that GLaDOS was nowhere in sight. There was no evidence that she had even been there; the fire was out and Chell's burnt, holey T- shirt was missing. She squinted her eyes. This hadn't all been a dream had it? She looked down; she had the jumpsuit fully on and zipped up, that meant there _was_ a fire. And she was alive, that meant she was carried out from the fire. So where was GLaDOS? Could she have given up waiting for Chell to wake up, and decided to find Cave on her own? No... GLaDOS needed Chell to come with her, there would be no reason to leave her here. Ridiculous ideas began to form in the girls head; perhaps GLaDOS had been lying this whole time and she didn't need her. Perhaps her plan all along was to leave Chell out here to die. Her heart began to race again as she continued to walk around aimlessly.

" _GLaDOS_? _Are you here?_ "

Her voice bellowed out into the vast fields surrounding her. There was no reply. Evidently, GLaDOS had no use for her anymore and had left her here to die. Her stomach dropped. Chell sat back down by the burnt logs and hugged her legs to her chest. Why did she ever trust the robot? Perhaps she really was as stupid as GLaDOS had so often told her she was. She lay back on the floor, tears welling up in her eyes. It's not easy to think positively when you know death is right around the corner, but Chell tried nonetheless.

" _At least I'll get to die peacefully out here on the surface, and not at the hands of some monstrous machine,_ " Chell said to herself. " _I could have fallen in the goo, or been lasered to death by turrets, or..._ "

She heard laughter from behind her. Chell quickly sat up and turned around. Of course, there was GLaDOS holding none other than Chell's burnt T-shirt.

" _You have got to be kidding me. I leave you for an hour and you decide to give up and accept death?"_ GLaDOS started. _"Why couldn't you have done that in the testing chambers when I actually wanted you dead,"_ she added, snarkily.

Chell was by far not as amused as the robot was. She angrily got to her feet and stormed up to GLaDOS, poking her metal chest.

" _Well, what did you expect? It's not like you've given me any reason to trust you_."

GLaDOS pushed the girls arm away a little too hard, and Chell went with it. She stumbled a little but managed to stay standing. " _Except that_ _I saved you from the vault, saved you from an explosion, saved you from a fire and will, in the future, save you from any other harm that may come upon you. Not to mention I kept you alive last night."_

Chell looked at the ground, playing awkwardly with her hands. She felt a wave of guilt overcome her. GLaDOS was right; she had saved the girl many times. Chell was just being paranoid. But she had a fair reason to be, GLaDOS was very unpredictable. However, Chell was the one in the wrong and she knew it.

" _You're right. I didn't think I would ever say that to you, but you are. I'm sorry._ "

GLaDOS tossed a shirt at her. Upon inspection, it wasn't burnt. In fact, it looked brand new. "

" _I had another one stored outside the facility. Don't ask how or why._ "

Chell didn't care to know. She was just grateful to have a shirt again, the jumpsuit was very restricting on movement. She thanked GLaDOS, who turned away for Chell to change.

" _Right_ ," GLaDOS began, turning back to the now dressed girl. " _We better get going._ "

" _You know which way to go_?" Chell asked, smirking. Of course GLaDOS knew, Chell just wanted to get on her nerves. She was in a good mood, and she would make the most of it.

" _I have a_ _built-in GPS system with Cave's coordinates keyed in. So yes, I do know which way to go_."

Chell laughed, running her hand through her hair. " _Well, lead the way._ "

GLaDOS did so, and the two of them walked off in content silence.


	13. Chapter 13

Super sorry for the long delay, this is well overdue. I've been playing Fallout 4 a lot too, here's hoping I don't get the worlds mixed up... It's short, I apologise.

\- Hannah

* * *

Chapter 13 - The Passing Weeks

Chell tugged at the collar of her shirt, feeling beads of sweat forming around her neck. The sun was blaring down on her, and she was feeling slightly faint. It felt like they had been walking for months, but according to GLaDOS, it had been no more than a fortnight. The first days were quiet. Neither of them spoke much, even when they encountered hostiles. GLaDOS was always quick to push Chell to safety - or 'out of her way' as she insisted - and destroy the threats. Most of these were rabid species of animals that Chell had never seen before, or falling debris. The world was a lot different to when she was last here as a 10-year-old. The tallest buildings she could remember were now just piles of debris, collapsed where they had once stood so tall. The air was murky and polluted not just in the city, but everywhere. It burned to breathe. Chell yearned for the fresh, crisp air that Aperture Laboratories had provided her with. She often dreamt of that place; a place of comfort and ironically enough, safety. The outside world had changed, and not for the better. She was probably much safer below being tested than being out here. Chell could feel the poisoned air attacking her insides. She wondered if GLaDOS happened to have a gas mask on her, but doubted it.

It was getting dark. Now usually, GLaDOS would continue walking through the darkness, and would only stop when Chell collapsed of exhaustion. But as they arrived at yet another demolished building, GlaDOS turned and walked towards it.

" _We will rest here for the night_."

Chell, almost in shock, didn't say a word. She didn't want to risk changing the robot's mind. She followed GLaDOS through broken door frames and debris until they found a small room devoid of corpses. Chell wasted no time collecting wood and piling it up in the middle of the room to start a fire. She had found a lighter not long ago, and held onto it tightly as it was one of her only life sources. It was times like these when she wished she had packed a sweatshirt though. Or a scarf. Or gloves. GLaDOS didn't seem to notice the girl shivering, it seemed her mind was elsewhere. Chell could practically see the heat being emitted from the robot.

GLaDOS didn't seem to notice the girl shivering, it seemed her mind was elsewhere. Chell could practically see the heat being emitted from the robot.

" _Do you remember what it's like to feel cold_?" She asked quietly. It was probably not her smartest idea; GLaDOS didn't like being reminded of her past. But to her surprise, she got an answer.

" _Yes. I remember everything about being human. Feelings, emotions, pain_."

Chell eyed the robot, who had not moved from the corner of the room. She considered asking another question, but held back.

" _I detest Cave for what he did to me, that is why I must find him. You understand._ "

It was more of a statement than a question, but Chell nodded anyway. Feeling brave, she decided to push further.

" _But you still feel emotions and pain, don't you?"_ She questioned, inching closer to the robot, who didn't seem to notice. _"It hurt you to leave Aperture, and you hate me, therefore you do feel emotions, albeit negative ones..._ "

There was silence for a moment before GLaDOS finally spoke again. " _I do not hate you. I merely hate your existence._ " She stated. But there was a tone in her voice that Chell had not heard her speak in before. She raised an eyebrow and smiled at the robot. " _Well, I don't hate you. Or your existence_."

GLaDOS, for the first time, made direct eye contact with Chell who now felt increasingly uncomfortable. She pulled her eyes away, focusing on her hands which were now fiddling in her lap. But she could still feel the robot's eyes on her. She felt a blush creep up on her face, but dismissed it as merely uneasiness. This though, GLaDOS _did_ notice. But she didn't say anything. Instead, she moved closer to the girl until their bodies were touching. Chell felt her cheeks go even darker, and she was thankful that it was dark. What she didn't realise what that it didn't matter how dark it was, GLaDOS would have been able to see anyway thanks to her night vision. Like she would have forgotten to include that when designing her robotic body.

" _Okay, maybe I don't hate your existence either. You have the capacity to be likeable, I suppose._ "

Chell nervously smiled, racking her brain for something to reply, but she couldn't think of anything logical or relevant, so instead she asked what the time was. Upon hearing it was 12:37am, she decided it was time to sleep. She moved slightly closer to the now small fire and curled into a ball, facing away from the robot.

" _Goodnight, GLaDOS._ "

There was no reply, but Chell could feel the robot's eyes on her still, and for the first time, it comforted her.


	14. Chapter 14

**Longer chapter, yay! I'm kind of improvising, not yay...**

 **\- Hannah**

* * *

Chapter 14 - The First Encounter 

Chell had lost track of the days they had been walking after about 3 weeks. Before asking GLaDOS she decided it had to have been over a month, and after asking, she found out her guess was pretty close - 36 days.

Things were looking bleak, and Chell was beginning to doubt that they were even heading anywhere in particular. In fact, it felt like this was just another test. Yes, GLaDOS had helped her now many times, but it was still difficult to fully trust somebody... some _thing -_ that once wanted her dead. Chell had tried countless times on many days to try and ask the robot how far away they were, but GLaDOS would always turn to give Chell a look as if to say " _do not ask me that_ " or said nothing at all. And so she didn't.

Chell looked down at her torn up t-shirt. Her ribs were pushing their way through her skin and could make out the bones. She had been living on anything she could find in the city's debris - be it cans of food, animals or insects. And there weren't many of any of those things. GLaDOS had bought a few cans from the lab, but they had been consumed by a ravenous Chell within a few days. Her eyes dropped lower to her feet; just a blurry movement below her. Walking had become part of her life's routine, and her feet were paying the price. Her boots were frayed and falling apart and her feet ripe with blisters. But it wasn't just the physical side of her that was paying. Her mind was burning with the radioactive residue from the war, and the sheer loneliness. Almost every time she had tried to strike up conversation with the robot she was instantly shut down. And so Chell had begun to talk to herself.

At first, GLaDOS had teased her for it, as expected. After a few days she grew concerned, but she still said nothing. She just listened to the girls ramblings. Sometimes, when talking to her father, Chell would burst into tears. GLaDOS hadn't known exactly how to react. Seeing the girl break down like that was something she had not seen before, and it frightened her. But she didn't say anything. Other times, Chell would be laughing so loud that GLaDOS would have to hold herself back from laughing too. And sometimes, Chell would remain silent for the whole day. These were the worst days.

* * *

" _We're here_."

The sound of GlaDOS' voice broke Chell from her trance and she stopped instantaneously.

" _We're here?_ " She asked, making sure she had heard right the first time.

" _Yes. He's up there."_ GLaDOS replied.

The robot raised her arm to point to a somehow still standing skyscraper above them. The building looked as if it would collapse any moment, and Chell wasn't looking forward to going in. She wasn't sure her legs could make it up all those stairs. GLaDOS started to walk towards to building without another word, but Chell didn't move. Reaching the door, the robot turned to face the girl who was now a few meters away.

" _Are you coming?_ "

It wasn't a question; Chell didn't have a choice in the matter and so started towards the entrance. She wondered how they were going to get past the large metal doors to the building that seemed to be padlocked. But before she could come up with a way, GLaDOS did this for her, kicking the doors down and sending them flying backwards with one kick. She was tempted to compliment the robot on her impressive strength, but she didn't. They entered the building together in silence and headed for the set of stairs that wait before them. Chell stared longingly at the elevator, which teased them with its presence but lack of power. But before Chell could take one step up the stairs, GLaDOS came from behind her and grabbed her tightly. Chell was in shock, was she being _hugged_ right now? She felt herself being raised off the floor and heading straight upwards... _fast_. She closed her eyes, grasping tightly onto the robots arms which entrapped her. Chell left her stomach on the ground floor and they flew up through the air, through broken ceilings and dodging debris. Why didn't they do this outside? Finally, Chell felt herself slowing down and was relieved to feel ground back underneath her feet. She looked below at the hole they had flown through. They were very high up... she felt a bit sick.

" _He's in the next_ room," GLaDOS muttered, just now releasing Chell from her grasp. Chell felt the comfort leave her as GLaDOS pulled away.

" _Are you going to kill him?_ " she whispered, following the robot to the door.

GLaDOS didn't reply. She was focusing on trying to hack the terminal that would open the large door. Chell assumed this door wasn't the type you could just kick down like the last one was. Obviously Cave was aware there might be dangers outside. She wondered what he would look like after all these years. He must be old now, so it's not like there would be a fight. GLaDOS would easily kill him. And Chell was sure he wasn't stupid enough to try and fight her.

" _Stay behind me when we enter_ ," GLaDOS told Chell, stepping away from the terminal. " _There could be anything in there. The only life form I am getting is Cave, but he may be armed_."

Despite her fear, Chell couldn't help but smile at the fact that the robot was protecting her. GLaDOS seemed to be unarmed, but Chell wasn't worried about that. She was sure that the robot had some sort of built-in weapons. Or at the very least, her raw strength. They stood in front of the door for a few seconds before it slowly opened. GLaDOS stepped inside the dimly lit room, her head darting all around before finally freezing whilst looking to the left. Chell poked her head out from behind GLaDOS. By the window, she could make out a tall, dark figure. And from the darkness came the voice.

" _It's about time, Carolyn_."

* * *

GLaDOS didn't move. It was like hearing his voice again had completely immobilised her. Chell could feel her heating up, and the girl took a step back just in case.

" _I wondered how long it would take you to find me,_ " the figure continued, stepping out of the shadows to reveal himself. The man easily recognisable - it was Cave. Chell had seen enough paintings scattered around the facility to know that face. " _I honestly didn't expect to wait this many years though. I must say I expected more of you_."

GLaDOS finally spoke. " _How did you know I was coming_?"

" _With a little help from my new friend,"_ he motioned into the shadows to the left and Chell's eyes followed his gaze. Standing in the corner was a very tall, very large humanoid robot, with glowing red eyes. It looked eerily similar to GLaDOS, but 100 times more sinister. And a few feet taller. " _Meet GLaDOS 2.0. Unoriginal name, yes. But she really is version 2.0 of you. She is more powerful, more intelligent and much, much more deadly_. _You did such a good job with your new body, I decided to take inspiration from it for my own robot. Shame you couldn't get your body working without the help of that human behind you though._ "

If GLaDOS had eyebrows, she would have raised one by now. " _How do you know this?_ "

" _You don't think I haven't been monitoring you this whole time? I know about your little friend that calls herself 'Chell', and I knew about your 'new body' too. You think I would have just left the facility without taking something to monitor my experiment?"_

 _"So that's what I am,"_ GLaDOS hissed, fists clenched. _"You were never going to be the one put into that computer, were you? It was going to be me all along. I was an experiment. But what for?"_

Cave shook his head. " _And here I was thinking you were actually smart enough to figure that out. What do I want, Carolyn? What have I always wanted?_ "

GLaDOS knew the answer: power. Chell felt the robot began to shake, and made the bold decision to speak up. She stepped slowly from behind GLaDOS.

" _Why didn't you leave if you knew we were coming?_ "

GLaDOS pulled Chell behind her again, making sure she was shielding the girl. Cave laughed again. He had a horrible, dry laugh that was interrupted by coughs and splutters. " _So, she finally speaks. And the first person she speaks to is me. How does that make you feel, Carolyn? All those years of trying to get her to speak to you, and she speaks to me within minutes."_ He beckoned his robot over to him, and she made her way to his side.

" _To answer your question Chell,_ why _would I leave? I've been waiting for Carolyn to get here for years. She's exactly what I need._ "


	15. THIS IS AN UPDATE (MORE COMING SOON)

Hi everyone!

First of all, I'm sorry this isn't t a new chapter for the story. I've written this because I can't seem to reply to comments and I feel I owe you guys an exclamation. First of all, there **will** be more of this story! The wonderful comments I have recieved from you amazing people make me feel that my writing is good enough; it makes me feel that I do want to pursue this. So thank you so much for your lovely comments - I can't reply to them but I do read each ad every one of them and they always make my day.

Now, regarding the story's lack of update. I've just started my second year at Uni and been bombarded with so many assessments, I don't even have time to do anything for myself. Finding motivation has been difficult too recently but I shan't go into the detials of my boring life. I just wanted to update you guys on the story. There will be more chapters soon. And by soon, that means whenever I find time to write. I'd like to say in the next month, but it could be more or it could be less. If I suddenly wake up tomorrow super motivated to write, this is what I will come to. I want to write for you guys because of all the support you have given me for the story, so I promise I will update soon. (Again, I use that word loosely.)

Thank you once again for the support, and sorry once again that this isn't a chapter - it's the only way I can actually reply to you all though!

Hannah xx


	16. Chapter 15

_It me! It's about time I updated this, I suppose... soz for the wait! And with my amazing timing, I'm writing this instead of a 1500 word essay due in 2 days! Go me!_

 _BTW, this is kind of all improvisation from here on out. I never got around to planning the end of this story. Or anything I've ever written... I've tried something a little different here too, I've made this sort of break the fourth wall - let me know if you like it or not. Oh, and I've tried to make it pretty long to make up for the wait._

 _Thank you all for believing in me. (This isn't the last chapter, don't worry)_

* * *

 **Chapter 15 - The Final Piece**

It must've hurt hearing Chell finally speak for the first time, but not to Carolyn. After all the time they had spent together, Chell had never uttered a word to Carolyn. Cave felt rather proud that he was the first one who had managed to get a word out of the seemingly mute girl. _Although, as we all know, he was wrong_. In fact, Chell _had_ spoken to GLaDOS. Many times, in fact. Cave may have been able to monitor the two through video, but he hadn't quite worked out how audio recording worked. He wasn't as smart as he may have thought he was.

Chell, after having been pushed back behind the safety of the robot, was feeling rather helpless. Cave had just admitted that he needed GLaDOS, and she didn't want to wait around to find out what for. But GLaDOS wasn't moving; she wasn't making an attempt to run away or even kill Cave. Chell was hoping she had a plan up her sleeve... that is, if she was wearing sleeves. It only just occurred to her that GLaDOS wasn't actually wearing any clothes. Though, did robots need to wear clothes? The girl wondered why she was even thinking about it in a time like this, perhaps she was trying to distract herself from the danger they were in. Snapping back to reality, Chell poked her head once more from behind the protective robot. Cave's 'GLaDOS 2.0' looked rather threatening as it stood towering over the old man, a very sharp shard of metal in her hand. Chell finally found her voice again, and continued questioning Cave, as his last answer had been rather vague.

" _What do you mean, she's exactly what you need? You have your own version of her right there beside you._ "

Cave looked up at his companion, an unimpressed look on his face.

" _Yes, I have the body. But I don't have the brain. Carolyn was a real person who was put into a computer. My creation is completely artificial. Stupid as a bloody brick wall. No offense, Carol_."

The robot didn't react. Chell didn't think it took any offense to that.

" _Original name_ ," the girl muttered, frowning at Cave. He shrugged his shoulders. For a man who had created and led a multi-million project, he wasn't the brightest person Chell had ever met. And now, it was finally GLaDOS' turn to speak.

And now, it was finally GLaDOS' turn to speak.

" _So, you want power. You_ want _to rule the world. Well guess what, I'm sorry to tell you that there is not much left here for you to rule_. _The world barely exists anymore_."

Cave's frown changed rather quickly into something much more sinister.

" _Exactly. I'm going to rebuild it. A brand new,completelyy artifical world that I rule. And for that, I need you_. _I don't need **her**._ "

And just like that, the rather large, rather intimidating robot became much larger and much more intimidating as it charged towards Chell. She felt a sharp pain in her stomach and was thrown backwards, smashing through a glass window and falling hundreds of meters to the ground below.

* * *

It was rather lucky Chell had the long-fall boots on actually, otherwise this story could have come to quite a sudden end. But of course, she did not have stab-proof armour on, and try as she might, she could not stop herself from falling backwards as the pain overcame her. The instinctively clutched her stomach, and felt dampness. Looking down, her hand was now stained red from the blood pooling out of her stomach. This couldn't be the end, not after all of this she had gone through. Chell had survived explosions, falls, crows with an intense hatred for potatoes, and turrets with an intent need to shoot her. She could not now die. She _would_ not now die.

Ripping her shirt off, which caused quite a bit more pain, Chell limped to a large puddle nearby. She wet the shirt and tied it as tight as she could around her stomach. It worked in the movies, so it would work now... right? The blood was still pouring out. It was a deep cut. Chell was struggling to catch her breath now, and she collapsed into the puddle behind her. She refused to believe but this was the end for her. But no one would be able to survive this, not without medical assistance.

Well, as luck would have it, medical assistance was only minutes away. Now, GLaDOS would not have been so stupid to take Chell and herself away from the facility without some backup. And as Chell took a few of what she thought could be her final breaths, she could make out two very familiar looking figures hobbling towards her, one quite short and stout and one much taller. And behind them, Chell saw something she thought she would never see again - a portal.

* * *

" _CHELL_!"

GLaDOS did not even realise she had such a voice inside of her. Yet alone such emotion. It felt as if her core had been ripped right from her, and torn to pieces in front of her very eyes. She felt an intense buzzing coming from inside her. Anger. Even if she hadn't have been tackled to the ground by her newer, larger version, it was very unlikely that GLaDOS would have been able to do anything to help the girl that had just been thrown out of the window. And that's what hurt her the most.

The moment GLaDOS heard that horrible, croaking laugh from behind her, she wanted to rip the tongue right out of Cave's mouth. But at the time being, she was being held tightly on the ground and so could not move even if she tried. Her body experienced no pain but her heart, had she one, was broken into a million pieces. She had just lost the last and only good thing in her life. If she was killed by Cave right this moment, she would not even care in the slightest.

" _It's quite a shame she died before she ever got to speak to you, Carolyn. I wonder what she would have said_."

GLaDOS couldn't even hear the old man. Her mind was empty. She was nothing, just a robotic body.

" _Now, we had better get going, hadn't we? How long did it take you two to walk here from the lab_?"

No answer, of course.

" _Well, luckily for you, we have a much faster mode of transport. I built in wheels to GLaDOS 2.0 with some spare parts I found lying around. It should take us no more than a week to get back there. I do hope that you haven't left the lab in a mess, I really do._ "

And so the three of them left, heading back the way GLaDOS had just moments ago walked with Chell. But this time, she was alone.

* * *

Chell woke up in the most pain she could ever have thought possible. Her stomach was burning, her eyes were watering and her whole body felt as if it weighed tons. She could make out bright lights around her, but her eyes would not allow themselves to be opened. There was a buzzing in her ears, and she wasn't sure if it was her brain buzzing or machines around her. When she finally managed to open her very sore eyes, she immediately recognised where she was. And she had never been happier to be back here. Her memories started rushing back. The fall, the portal, the two figures. It all fell into place. Despite the pain she was in, she chuckled. Of course GLaDOS would have had a backup plan. She was incredibly smart. It seemed the portal gun was never destroyed at all. And thank goodness for that, Chell was not up to walking a few weeks to get back here.

She tried with all her might to pull herself up into a sitting position, but the pain would not allow this. A sliding door opened from behind her, and she struggled to turn her head to the direction of the noise. She was relieved to see her old friend, Atlas walk in holding a tray with what seemed to be beans and a cup of water on. Just like the old days, she thought.

" _Boy, am I happy to see you_."

The tray was dropped to the ground and beans went everywhere. Atlas looked as if he was about to explode from the sheer shock of hearing the girl speak. Chell covered her mouth, trying not to grin.

" _Oh, shit_."

* * *

Just a few floors below them, GLaDOS had found herself being plugged into a very large machine by the very much larger version of herself. Cave was humming away as he typed slowing on a computer to her left. GLaDOS stared at him in, her face completely neutral. But even in the sheer pain she was feeling internally, she was not able to hold herself back from throwing out insults. It was just instinct.

" _Perhaps you should have invented robot hands for yourself, so you could type at least 20 words per minute. You know, I think you are officially the slowest typist I have ever seen. And I've got access to the whole world wide web_."

" _Oh Carolyn, still as pleasant as ever I see_." Cave chuckled. " _Now, in case you were wondering what I'm doing - I'm removing your memory core. This is just for my safety, of course. I don't need you trying to attack me whilst I dismantle you._ "

He pressed a final button on the computer and GLaDOS felt waves of electricity rush through her.

" _See you on the other side_ ," the man chuckled as he left the room.

 _Perhaps removing her memory was a good thing,_ GLaDOS thought was she felt herself losing consciousness, _at least it would remove the pain of losing Chell from her being._


	17. Chapter 16

_Oh boy, I've got a plan for where this will go. And it's BIG._

 _(btw, the song on the radio that Chell makes her own lyrics to is "Still Alive", but you probably already knew that...)_

 _Prepare for pain though... after all, this is an **angst** story, and angst is my specialty :)_

* * *

For the first time in what seemed like forever, Chell knew exactly how many days it had been since she had found herself back at Aperture Laboratories thanks to the very helpful Atlas and P-body. Every morning she awoke to the two of them standing beside her bed with a calendar, waiting for Chell to cross off the days. She assumed the two of them were rather bored, or just had an obsession with counting days. Either way, today marked one week since her arrival here. Chell had never thought much of Atlas and P-body when she had first found herself at Aperture Laboratories, in fact the first and only time she had seen them was just before being booted out by a very sour GLaDOS. Chell thought of that day often; it felt like a lifetime ago. Perhaps it was. Her and GLaDOS had walked for many weeks before finally finding Cave, and before that she had wondered around herself for many weeks. It was a wonder she was still alive.

The radio sitting next to her make-shift bed was still looping the same lyric-less tune she had heard a million times. Last time she was here, after having heard the song for perhaps a thousand times, Chell had attempted to create lyrics for the catchy tune. Despite the current circumstances, having eaten and had plenty of rest, Chell was in an uncharacteristically good mood. She recalled the lyrics she had made up and etched into them walls of her what used to be cell, singing them to herself as she scratched away at the crumbling bricks.

" _I really hate humans._

 _Except that one by the name of Chell._

 _It's hard to hate the only friend you have here._

 _She is a badass._

 _I wish I could be as cool as her,_

 _Though I know that'll never happen, because I am a jerk._ "

Back then, it felt good to take a dig at the machine who was intent on making the poor girl suffer, but now Chell was feeling quite bad about the lyrics she had written. After all, she had no idea where GLaDOS was right now, or if she was even alive still. Somehow, Chell had managed to repress her emotions about the whole situation, but now, after seeing the words etched into her cell, she could no longer hold it in. She was stuck in here, helpless to do anything to save the only one she had left on this godforsaken earth. Chell wanted more than anything right now to hear the machines smug voice coming from behind her, making a snarky remark on how much of an ugly crier she was, or how fat she looked when she was curled up in a ball. After crying herself dry, Chell decided that a glass of water was needed. Her eyes were burning and her throat was dry, but this was the best condition she had been in for a long time. Atlas had done a surprisingly good job of stitching up her stomach wound, and she was healing quite well. Perhaps she had doubted those two robots...

Seeing GLaDOS' lair without GLaDOS actually there was very distressing. Any moment Chell expected the machine to pop up, stating this had all been an elaborate prank to prove that the girl actually cared for her. But after sitting alone on the floor for a good few hours, Chell deducted that this in fact was reality, and her friend would not be appearing any time soon. A friend was something Chell had not had for as long as she could remember. Her family was broken, and her childhood was lonely. Growing up in the factory with her father working all day everyday was not the best way for a child to spend their life. Though GLaDOS was cynical and sometimes plain evil to Chell, the girl felt closer to her than she had ever felt to anyone before. The fact that she could annoy GLaDOS so much just by remaining silent was the ultimate satisfaction.

Chell thought back to when she had first met the humanoid version of GLaDOS. Something had clicked in that moment; something had changed. For the first time, she saw GLaDOS as another person. Another person that she cared so deeply for, someone she wanted to spend every moment with... She had felt something that day that she had not felt before. And it had scared her. Chell had been willing to put all of her trust into the hands of GLaDOS. What was that feeling she felt? Admiration? Endearment? Or...

No, she couldn't possibly feel that way about a machine.

Her head was spinning and right now; she wanted nothing more than to be curled up in GLaDOS' arms where she knew she was safe. Her mind wondered, and she couldn't help but wonder just where GLaDOS was right now. Chell prayed she was okay, but in the back of her mind, she feared otherwise. The girl wondered over to the computer where GLaDOS once sat. There must be something she could do. While scanning through the millions of files on the computer, she found a folder labeled with a very familiar number - #1498. _Her_ number.

The mouse hovered over the folder for a few minutes. Would it be right to read her own folder? Feeling uneasy, Chell clicked onto it. Within the main folder, there were only three files. Two of which were mp3 formats, and one was a simple note. She clicked the first mp3, and instantly recognised the tune.

" _This was a triumph..._ "

Chell couldn't help but smile. Of course GLaDOS would be cynical, even in her death. She hummed along as the song continued, feeling satisfied that she finally knew the true lyrics. But when a certain line played, Chell's heart skipped a beat.

 _"Even though you broke my heart and killed me."_

There was something in GLaDOS' voice as she sung that line that tore right into Chell. She was being so genuine; speaking as if she was actually heartbroken. It was the only time Chell had felt real emotion in the machines voice and it was almost too much to bare. She turned the song off. Hoping the next file wouldn't be so painful, she cautiously opened it.

" _Well here we are again, it's always such a pleasure. Remember when you tried to kill me twice_?"

This song was instantly much more sarcastic and sneering, and Chell once again couldn't hold back her laughter. It was as if GLaDOS was right in front of her, insulting her in every verse. Tears welled up in the girl's eyes once more, knowing she may never hear the comforting voice of the machine again. When the song came to an end, Chell wasn't sure she was emotionally strong enough to deal with anymore pain. But nonetheless, she opened the last file.

At first, she was confused with what she was faced with. It was a cake recipe. More specifically, a recipe for a simple black forest cake. Why the hell was this in Chell's file? Upon further study, something did stand out from the recipe. The amounts of each ingredient were excessively large. And it didn't seem to be a full list of ingredients either.

 _20 eggs_

 _07 tablespoons of plain flour_

 _16 litres of milk_

 _5 sticks of butter_

Chell read the list over and over many times, trying to figure out exactly what the meaning of it was. It seemed odd that there was an '0' before the 7, but not the 5. The girl rattled her brain, trying to make sense of it all. Chell grabbed a marker pen from the desk and scribbled the numbers down on the floor. After staring at them for hours, she slumped down the wall, exhausted. She could not for the life of her figure out what they meant. Maybe it was just a prank left by GLaDOS with the knowledge that somehow Chell would find it. But if that were the case, GLaDOS would have somehow known exactly what was going to happen. Just as she was about to give up, in burst Atlas carrying the familiar calendar in his arms. Chell pushed him away, but he seemed intent on getting her to look at it. Eventually, she gave in and followed his gaze to the paper. He had circled the year 2007 on the front of it, and drew a line between the 20 and the 07. Then suddenly it clicked. Chell jumped up and pulled him into a hug before hastily running back to the console, leaving the robot rather confused.

 _Tap, tap, tap._

The computer searched for files from the date May 16th, 2007. Eventually, it came back to Chell with only two. The first was a familiar video that Chell cringed at when opening, and quickly closed again. She didn't need to see that again, watching it once was enough. A wave of guilt rushed over her as she realised that GLaDOS had been forced to watch that very video of her being forced into the computer over and over again, for years on end. But there was no time for apologies now. Chell opened the remaining file.

It was a message. And she knew exactly who it was from.

 _Room 31. Floor 265. Code: CAKE_IS_REAL._

Finally, she was getting somewhere.


	18. Chapter 17

_Well, I am sorry to say that this is the penultimate chapter. :(_

 _I'm already writing the final chapter which I am refraining from releasing until Friday at the earliest..._

 _\- Hannah_

* * *

 **Chapter 17 - The Genius' Plan**

Until she was introduced to Aperture Laboratories, Chell had never heard of a place that had more than 100 floors. But here she was now, passing the 248th floor, on her way to the 265th. It was pretty crazy how far she had come since first waking up here what seemed like a lifetime ago. And now she was on her way to save the one who had been so intent on killing her. If you had have told Chell that a few months ago, she probably would have laughed in your face. Or not... since she had just started vocalising her emotions as of late.

The elevator finally reached floor 265. Now came the easy part: finding room 31. Stepping out of the elevator, Chell scanned her surroundings for any signs. _Nothing_. It seemed she would have to do this the hard way. Around her stood 3 hallways, each leading to different directions.

" _It would've been great if someone had installed signs up here_ ," she thought to herself, racing down the hallway to her left. " _Cave really isn't the smartest person I've ever met, it's a wonder he managed to keep this company going for so long_."

The doors became a blur as Chell ran down the hallway, desperately searching for room 31. This was going to be difficult; the room numbers were all mixed up. Room 28 was right next to room 91, and next to that was room 53. For what felt like hours, Chell ran in circles down each hallway scanning the door numbers as she passed. But no matter how hard Chell searched, she could not find room 31. Exhausted, she leant back against a wall and fell to her knees.

" _I'm never going to find this bloody room_ ," she sighed, burying her head in her hands.

Fate was in her favour though, as just at that moment, Chell felt the wall behind her cave in and she fell backwards straight through it.

 _Oof_.

It wasn't a long drop, but it was enough to hurt the already quite injured girl. Her head was pounding as she sat up and looked around. It was very dark, but from what she could make out, it looked exactly like where she had been before with GLaDOS and Wheatley when Chell was trying to escape from both of them with the aid of the other. Below her was complete darkness, and she found herself sitting on a narrow metal walkway. It was so dark here behind the scenes of the factory, and Chell wished she had the portal gun with her to provide a little light. Pulling herself to her feet, she grasped onto the rails of the walkway and cautiously followed the path.

She eventually found herself at a dead end, or at least where the walkway ended. Squinting into the darkness below, Chell could just make out a platform down there and following where it led, noticed a very small vent. Without hesitation, she jumped down and fell into the darkness. The vent would have been rather hard for Chell to have fit into had she have been eating properly the past few months. But, she hadn't been and so was able to just fit into the vent. It was a very tight squeeze, though. Crawling through, Chell was starting to feel quite worried. Where exactly was GLaDOS leading her? Perhaps to a new high-tech weapon that she could use to kill Cave. Or perhaps a hoverboard that would take her to where GLaDOS was. And then Chell heard it.

 _Cave_.

She recognised that horrible, scratchy laugh as it echoed around the vents. Slits of light were coming from just up in front of Chell, and she crawled closer until she could see through them. The room below her was very large, much bigger than GLaDOS' lair. It was also quite messy, weeds growing through the cracks in the floor and dirt scattered everywhere. There were many computers too and it was so bright, Chell had to squint to spare her eyes burning too much. As she looked around the room, Chell found exactly what she had been looking for. It was GLaDOS, hooked up to more than one of the machines, unmoving.

 _Shit. Was she too late?_

Cave continued tapping away on the nearby computers for a while, coughing, before walking over to GLaDOS.

 _"Now you wait here whilst I go and get a few bits from my office. Don't go running away, now. Like you even could."_

Chell watched as Cave left the room, and the moment he was out of sight, she kicked the vent off and dropped to the floor. Ever so quietly, she made her way over to where GLaDOS, who was still unmoving. Her eyes were open, but not lit up. It was rather unnerving seeing GLaDOS so vulnerable like this. Chell ran her hand over the machines body; it was no longer radiating the heat that had kept her warm through the nights. But she didn't have time to waste thinking about that, she had to get GLaDOS out of here. The computer was left unlocked luckily, Cave obviously didn't assume that anyone would be along to tamper with it. Once again though, he was wrong. Chell had no idea where to start with the computer, all she could see was coding. Hitting random buttons didn't seem to work either. Frustrated, she slammed her hands onto the keyboard.

" _Initiating startup_."

Bloody hell, this really _was_ her lucky day.

Chell turned to face GLaDOS who's eyes were now flashing yellow. _Please work, please work._ Nothing was happening, GLaDOS wasn't moving. Chell could have screamed in annoyance if Cave wasn't nearby. She desperately searched the computer again for something else. There were no instructions for waking up GLaDOS; Chell assumed they had been destroyed after the Aperture scientists woke her up the first time and realised how stupid that was. Cave could be back any moment now, and here she was trying to decipher computer coding. If only she had have listened to her father when he would lecture her about coding...

" _Are you supposed to be the fat girl? I wouldn't exactly say you're fat..._ "

Chell spun around and was greeted with a now very alive GLaDOS. She laughed, just thankful to have her back. There was no time though to joke, they had to get out of there now. Chell grabbed the robot by the arm and started to pull her towards to door, but the robot would not budge.

" _Come on, we have to leave_!" She urged, keeping an eye on the door. But still, GLaDOS did not move.

" _I do not know who you are, but my internal systems are telling me to trust the fat girl. And since you're the only girl I see, that must be you._ "

Chell raised an eyebrow. " _What do you mean, you don't know who I am? We don't have time to joke now, we've got to-_ "

She was cut off by GLaDOS yanking her arm away and pushing her back. It seemed she had completely ignored Chell's plea.

" _However, I cannot leave yet. I am yet to shut down Cave and seeing as I am now able to access the codes to do so, I must do that now."_

Chell was rather confused as to what was going on until GLaDOS handed her a flash drive.

" _What's this_?" the girl asked, studying the unlabeled stick.

" _A gift. Not really. I feel like I should give it to you though._ "

And with that, GLaDOS walked over to the computer and began furiously typing. Spotting another computer, Chell ran over the jammed the flash drive in. After a few seconds, it loaded up a video message.

* * *

GLaDOS stood alone in her lair, staring into the camera which seemed to be coming from the computer. She was expressionless and spoke quite matter of factly.

" _Chell, if you receive this then everything is going according to plan, do not worry. You were also smart enough to find me; I_ _never would have guessed. Anyway, Cave has wiped my memory which is exactly what I needed from him. When I was first created, he had made sure I could not access any of his data that he had stored in me, unless I was completely wiped first and so would have no intent on killing him._ "

GLaDOS walked closer to the camera, eyes staring right down the lens. Chell felt uneasy.

" _Right now, I should be at the computer working on getting the codes onto another flash drive to shut down Cave. And I use that term correctly, Cave is in fact part machine - I wasn't the first one to be put into a computer, but that is a story for another time. The code you found in your files will also be needed, but not yet. DO NOT plug that code into my body until I have shut down Cave. My morality core does not allow me to willfully murder."_

The machines eyes become much softer now, and Chell couldn't help but feel drawn into them.

" _I will see you again soon, Chell._ "

* * *

 _"That explains a lot._ "

Chell jumped at the voice that came from behind her. GLaDOS had been watching over her shoulder and was now smiling at how clever she thought she was. GLaDOS smiled to herself before grabbing Chell's arms and holding them behind the girls back, whispering in her ear as she led her over to a cage.

" _Trust me._ "


	19. Chapter 18

_And here it is - the last (and subsequently longest) chapter. It wasn't easy to end, and I mean that both ways - it took me ages to think of exactly **how** to end this, but I knew that it needed to stay true to the 'angst' rating I gave it. I know this isn't the ending poeple will want, but its the ending I knew I was using before I began. (Soz 'bout it) Also, if some parts don't add up, pls ignore it. As said before, I completely improvised starting from a few chapters back... I have included a very short epilogue, but there will unlikely be a sequel to this story. _

_It's been a long journey and I won't get all sentimental, but to everybody who has commented, fav'd, followed or even just read - thank you. Thank you for believing in me and encouraging me to continue with this story. It means a lot to me that people support my writing because this is what I want to do with my life._

 _To the ones who have been here since the beginning of this story - **That-Kind-Anon,**_ _ **Derpington,**_ _ **and Brendan Wolff** (sorry if I missed others) - who have encouraged me to keep writing when I felt like giving up on it, an extra special thank you to you all for your kind comments and support._

 _(Now, how many lyrics from the Portal songs can I secretly incorporate into this chapter?)_

 _\- Hannah x_

* * *

 **Chapter 18 - Don't Say Goodbye**

It wasn't long before Cave stumbled back into the room, carrying a large bundle of cables. He didn't seem to notice the cage, or that Chell was in it. Dumping the wires down onto his desk, he walked back over to where GLaDOS was still plugged into the computers. Her eyes were now glowing, indicating she had been started back up. It was then that Cave turned to finally notice Chell. Understandably, he was quite shocked. For the last time he had seen her, she was falling hundreds of meters out of the skyscraper window with a large shard of metal in her stomach.

" _You survived?"_ He asked quite bewildered, before noticing the long fall boots she was wearing. " _Oh, the long fall boots._ " He shook his head, walking closer to the girl. " _Well this complicates things, but you know what? I'm not even angry, and I'm being so sincere right now_."

Chell remained silent but maintained eye contact with him. She wasn't going to give anything to that bastard. After all the shit he'd put GLaDOS through in her sad, lonely life, Chell was going to make him pay. And if that started with just ignoring him, then so be it.

" _I assume Carolyn here caught you trying to break in here to save her, am I correct?_ " He raised an eyebrow as he turned away from Chell, eyeing down the robot. " _I hate to tell you this, but she doesn't remember who you are, or who I am. Isn't that convenient_? _For me, at least_."

Resisting the urge to spit in his face was very difficult, but for her own sake, Chell managed to hold back. She still said nothing. Cave studied her again for a moment before turning away and resuming the work on his computer. Chell looked over at GLaDOS, who had not moved as of yet. There was someone, or rather _something_ that was missing, though. GLaDOS 2.0 was nowhere to be seen. Perhaps Cave had her guarding the entrance to the facility, just in case Chell was to return. The robot would be up there for a long time if that was the case. It was frustrating knowing that she couldn't just bring GLaDOS back to the way she was yet. It hurt Chell to know that she didn't remember her. But it wouldn't be long before she did, and that's what kept Chell going.

* * *

Days passed.

Chell missed having her two robot friends come barging in each morning with their favorite calendar. Instead, it was Cave who blessed her with his presence. He was in the room for most hours of the day, but in what Chell assumed was the evenings, he would leave, locking the doors behind him. Chell was feeling incredibly weak having not eaten for this long. She wondered why Cave hadn't just killed her yet. Maybe he really did need her for something. Maybe she was the backup. She also wondered why GLaDOS had not killed Cave yet. In fact, GLaDOS had not even spoken to Chell since asking her to trust her many days ago. Despite Chell's best efforts, she could not get the attention of GLaDOS no matter what she said or did. Looking around the dimly lit room, Chell noticed a surveillance camera just above her. She lay down on her back and stared up at it. She decided it would be fun to leave a message for GLaDOS to find when this was all over, just something simple and humorous. Reaching her hand out of the cage, she managed to grab a handful of dirt and some grass to bring into the cage.

Chell was never artistic, but she was feeling rather proud of what she had managed to make out of some dirt. It was a cake, chocolate of course, complete with grass candles and rocks for cherries. Her stomach rumbled, and she had to keep telling herself it wasn't real.

" _When this is all over,_ " she started, thinking the robot wasn't actually listening. " _We should make a cake together."_ She patted down her mud cake and lay back. _"Unless the cake really is a lie_?" She added with a giggle.

Chell didn't expect an answer, and was quite shocked when she heard from across the room " _You get the eggs, and I'll mix in the sugar_." GLaDOS flashed a quick smile and the girl before resuming her usual position by the computers.

* * *

Chell awoke to a very loud noise surrounding her. She rubbed her eyes and groggily pulled herself to her feet, still half asleep. Cave was standing by the computers, coughing quite violently. He was almost as loud as the computers, which were beeping furiously. It sounded like an alarm of sorts, but Cave didn't seem to be worried. In fact, he was quite the opposite. In between his coughs, he seemed to be laughing in a very evil manner. Chell grasped the bars of her cage tightly, desperately trying to get GLaDOS to look at her, but it was no use. The robot was just standing beside Cave, watching him. Why wasn't she putting the flash drive in him now? It was the perfect opportunity.

When Cave finally finished his coughing fit, he turned and walked over the Chell, who was eyeing him down with her eyebrows furrowed.

" _It's finally time to begin the test, sorry for the wait,_ " he smirked, beckoning GLaDOS over. She walked over to him, not saying a word nor looking at Chell. Cave turned to the robot, who had picked up a lead pipe l from the floor. He shook his head.

" _No_ ," he urged, removing the pipe from her grasp. " _Use your hands. That's what they're for, isn't it?_."

GLaDOS continued towards Chell, pushing Cave aside as she did so. He watched intently. As she grew closer, Chell began to feel more and more worried. Shouldn't GLaDOS have shut down Cave by now? The door to the cage swung open and GLaDOS reached her arm in, grabbing Chell by the collar. Begging it was all part of the plan, Chell didn't struggle against the strong metal arm that was cold against her skin. She was led over to a wall, and shoved backwards into it, the robots arm still grasping tightly onto her collar.

 _Perhaps in a different situation, this would have been more enjoyable..._

There was no sign of any emotion in GLaDOS' eyes, and Chell was only just now beginning to feel very, very concerned. The robots grip was getting tighter and Chell began to feel herself lifting off the floor. _Shit._ She noticed Cave walking over, an evil grin on his face.

" _Oh, did I spoil your little plan? I'm afraid she isn't going to stop choking you._ " He pulled a flash drive out from his pocket, waving it in Chell's red face; she was now struggling to breathe. The girl grasped onto the robot's arm in an attempt to stop herself from choking.

 _"I'll admit, it was a good plan - trying to shut me down. But not good enough to get past me. I own this factory, Chell. I hear everything_." The flash drive was dropped onto the floor and hastily stamped on. Chell heard the crunching of plastic under Cave's boots.

" _This was a triumph,_ " Cave laughed, going back to his computer. " _I'm making a note here: huge success._ "

Chell's eyes averted back to GLaDOS', desperately trying to connect with her. But the robot was looking right through her.

 _So this was it. After all she had been through, this was how it ended. She would die at the hands of the only one she had left. No. She hadn't worked this hard for it to end like this. She wasn't about to give up now._

A sudden wave of strength overcame the girl, and she brought her legs into the air, kicking GLaDOS right in the stomach. The machine lurched back, dropping Chell to the floor. Quite in shock at how easy that was, Chell shoved past GLaDOS with no hesitation and tackled Cave to the ground. She knew what she had to do: exactly what she had done to shut GLaDOS down - remove the core.

Cave stood no chance against the much younger, much stronger girl and could do nothing to stop the oncoming blow to his head. He was instantly knocked out, which for his sake, was a good thing. Chell grabbed a shard of glass beside her and plunged it into his chest. Expecting to be showered in blood, she turned her head away. But to her surprise, there was no blood. Inside the man was... metal. He must have been more part computer than Chell had thought...

But no time to think about that. She reached for the only distinguishable thing inside him - a flashing red tube - and ripped it out.

" _Factory core destroyed. Self-destruct in t-minus 20 minutes_."

This was not good. She climbed off the lifeless body, looking behind her. GLaDOS was standing upright, not having moved from her position. Chell cautiously walked over to her, prepared to jump back at any moment.

 _"Thank you for participating in this Aperture Science computer-aided enrichment activity,_ " GLaDOS spoke in a completely monotone voice, startling Chell.

Uh oh, she had heard this line before. Right before she had been thrown into a pit of fire.

" _Goodbye_."

A large claw came flying out of nowhere, but Chell was quick to dodge it. This was not good, either. Chell reached into her pocket, pulling out the flash drive she had prepared for GLaDOS. Now for the hard part - getting it into her. She ran towards the robot, dodging multiple attacks from multiple claws. Man, would the portal gun have been helpful right now.

" _Please assume the party escort submission position_."

Not likely. She was only a few meters away. Vaulting over a table, Chell dived at GLaDOS, attempting to tackle her to the ground. But she was much stronger than Cave, and didn't fall quite as Chell had expected. Rather, she just stumbled backwards slightly. Now Chell was in trouble.

" _Factory_ s _elf-destruct in t-minus 17 minutes_."

The robot had her arms tightly wrapped around the girl from behind. It was almost as if she were hugging Chell if she wasn't trying to squeeze the life out of her. Chell desperately squirmed in GLaDOS' tight grip, but the robot was not going to let go.

" _If you let me go, we can make a cake,"_ she begged, hoping that would trigger the machines memory.

" _I don't think you need any more cake by the looks of you,"_ came a snarky reply.

" _Alright_ ," Chell choked. " _Looks like we're doing this the hard way_."

She kicked up from the ground with all her might, causing the robot to lose her balance and fall backwards. She only had one chance at this. Chell shoved the flash drive into GLaDOS' neck and quickly pulled away from her, diving for shelter behind a table. She poked her head over the top, watching as GLaDOS lay unmoving on the ground. Suddenly, she sat up and got to her feet. Her eyes were flashing again. Chell watched cautiously, afraid to make a move.

" _Memory at 20%_ "

That was a good sign, it meant it was working.

" _I'm going to kill you now, and all the cake is gone_."

That, on the other hand, was _not_ a good sign. The desk was smashed just as Chell moved away. GLaDOS locked her eyes onto the girl. Chell's eyes darted around the room, looking for somewhere to hide while the rest of GLaDOS' memory redownloaded. There were many desks, but as soon as she would run for one, GLaDOS would bring a large claw down from nowhere and smash it.

" _Memory at 50%_ "

" _Oh_ ," GLaDOS started. " _It's you_."

It was like deja vu, except much more dangerous than the last time Chell had heard those words. And Chell didn't have the portal gun with her to aid her escape.

" _Factory_ s _elf-destruct in t-minus 11 minutes_."

All Chell could do was try to avoid the chairs and computers being thrown at her. Luckily, GLaDOS hadn't had much time to work on her aim and missed every time.

" _Memory at 85%_ "

GLaDOS eventually gave up with that and turned to the computers, hitting a single button.

" _Guess what? It's your old friend, deadly neurotoxin. If I were you, I'd take a deep breath. And hold it._ "

Chell wasn't concerned about this, as she and Wheatley had long ago destroyed the neurotoxin machine. What she was concerned about was that GLaDOS had 85% of her memory back and still wanted to kill her. Although, with the amount of memory the machine would have been holding, it did make sense. Chell must have only taken up 5 or 10% of her whole memory. Dodging yet another flying desk, Chell was feeling strangely saddened by the fact that she was such a small part of GLaDOS' memory.

" _Memory at 95%_ "

" _You know,_ f _ifty thousand years is a lot of time to think. About me. About you. We were doing so well together._ "

Chell didn't have time to react as the robot charged towards her at a very fast speed. She was winded when GLaDOS finally hit her, shoving her back against a wall nearby. Hands returned around her neck, choking her. She felt her feet lift off the ground as she desperately squirmed in the robots arms.

" _Memory at 98%_ "

GLaDOS' flashing eyes were starting into Chell's, but she had no emotion. Except pure hatred. Chell realised that she must only be 1 or 2% of GLaDOS' memory. That hurt more than the cold hands wrapped around her neck.

" _I hate you so much, Chell._ "

" _Memory at 99%_ "

GLaDOS' grip tightened. She let go with one hand and smashed it into the wall right beside Chell's head. From the corner of her eye, Chell noticed that GLaDOS had ripped apart the wall, and was now holding a long shard of metal in her hand.

" _Factory_ s _elf-destruct in t-minus 4 minutes_."

The siren coming from the computers got louder and louder. Chell struggled to make her voice louder than it.

" _Wait, GLaDOS, please don't-_ "

The metal slid into Chell's chest with ease. She felt it twist inside her, disrupting her organs from their usual places. Chell reached out with her last bit of energy and touched the robots cheek, her eyes welling up. But not from the physical pain. GLaDOS did not react. Chell's breathing got more rapid, before slowing down.

" _Memory at 100%_ "

GLaDOS' eyes stopped flashing. She dropped Chell to the ground. She took a step back. The shard dropped out of her hand, echoing around the room as it hit the floor.

" _Factory_ s _elf-destruct in t-minus 1 minut-_."

The announcer was cut off as a claw smashed down onto the computers. The room fell silent. GLaDOS dropped to her knees beside Chell's lifeless body. An arm gently slid under the girl's neck, turning Chell's face to her own.

" _Chell_?"

The girl's eyes were wide open, still wet from tears. Her white shirt was now red. Blood stained. She was cold and unmoving.

" _Chell, please. Don't say goodbye,"_ GLaDOS begged, her voice thick with emotion. She grasped Chell's hand. " _We'll have a party. With a real cake. I promise there will be a cake, and you can even have two slices._ "

The lights in the room shut off, leaving the two of them in darkness. Neither of them moved.

" _Goodbye, my only friend_."

* * *

 **EPILOGUE - 3 YEARS LATER**

The computers were not happy, judging by the noises they were making. But that didn't stop her. This was it. _This_ was the trial that would finally work. Hitting one last button, GLaDOS took a step back from the console and turned her eyes to a large pod beside the desks.

 _"Initiating startup."_

She watched it intently as it whirred to life, beginning to shake. P-body and Atlas hid behind her, having learnt from what had happened the time before that taking cover was a smart idea. Suddenly, all went quiet and the pod was still.

Moments passed before the door opened releasing a blanket of smoke out into the room. GLaDOS squinted through it, desperately trying to see the pod again. A robot stepped out through the smoke, eyes locked on GLaDOS. It walked up to her and grabbed her hand, smiling.

" _Do I still look fat?_ "


End file.
